updates

From California to Kentucky and from Kentucky back to Florida.  This has been my agenda over the past few months.  We are currently enjoying having me on a hometown project.  My hospital is implementing yet another piece of their EMR puzzle and has asked me to join the cause and work for them for the next few months.  I can certainly appreciate working in my own city again mostly because it involves sleeping in my own bed every night and seeing my family more. 

Things have remained chaotic, in a good way, at home.  Just when things calm down, we start projects like gutting the kitchen or decide we should paint over the ugly pink color that was once the outside of our home. 

I've been kitchenless for the past week and a half mostly due to my own fault.  Sometimes my optimism needs to do a reality check.  When the cabinet guy warned us that we should cool it on the gutting part because the cabinets might not be finished quite so quickly, I encouraged Scott the destroyer to rip it all out.  Keep going I assured him.  After all, I'm creative, I can make lots of things in my amazing crock pot.  That announcement was roughly 31 meals ago.  I no longer feel this way.  We are actually coming to the end of this project and I can appreciate all the money, time and inconvenience that have been part of this remodel.  I will have pictures to post soon.

The boys are well. 

Gavin is hoping desperately to get taller soon.  He announced to us last night that we better look out because he is going to be hitting his growth sperm soon.  I hope for his sake that he does add a few inches to his height in the coming weeks.  Tommy is gaining on him monthly and it won't take long and he will surpass Gavin.  We found out what middle school he will be attending next year.  Nervous doesn't even begin to sum up how I feel about middle school and this school in particular.  Home school, private school and combinations of options linger on my mind.  I'm not sure what direction we will head. 

Tommy is Tommy.  He is finding his creative side and channeling that energy daily.  Often times it's in the form of cutting apart and reassembling cardboard boxes into people, Flat Stanley style.  I have several rather creepy characters hanging from my curtain rods in the bedroom.  They are the last thing I see when I close my eyes and the first thing I see when I open them.  There is something so eerie about the way kids draw people. 

Finn is getting taller as well.  No bigger around, but longer and leaner everyday.  He is working so hard to master some of the skills he will need to do well in kindergarten.  Somehow he is aware that he is a bit behind the curve and has lots of work to do.  If I'm not prompting him to count or sing me his version of the alphabet, he is prompting me. 

Petey is so sweet these days.  He trails around after Finn preferring be near him all the time.  It's funny how the table have turned.  For years it was Finn chasing Peter telling him what to eat and drink and play with and now it's the opposite.  Peter cries when Finn tries to get up in the middle of a play session.  "Noooooo, come back, don't leave me."  They act an awful lot like twins sometimes.  Peter longs for the day when he can go to school like Finn.  I hope Finn continues to set good examples for Pete because he is a powerful role model right now.

Little Huck is getting sweeter each day.  He ate his first dog food the other day when he decided he could crawl.  he proceeded to crawl from the living room to the kitchen, find the dog dish and have a bite.  I will mention that this did not happen on my watch, although it probably could have.  He loves to eat.  Huck loves nursing, loves the bottle, loves his brothers cups, loves to sit in is high chair and stuff his little mouth with anything he can convince his brothers to give him a bite of. 

Auggie Doggie is often referred to as The Hog.  We are still trying to maintain our pecking order.  The Hog wakes up most mornings determined that he will go to bed in the evening as the Alpha dog.  It's a constant struggle to remind him that he is not the dictator of the house and to remind the boys that they need to keep him in check.  About 30 hours of Dog Whisperer on Netflix and I have still not cured him.  On the plus side, he is neutered now, he will sit on command and comes when we call him most of the time unless he suspects he is in trouble.  Something tells me he will require a lifetime of training.  Scott is trying to find a place in his heart for Auggie, but as of now, the two don't really see eye to eye.

It was my birthday yesterday.  I do not feel older, in fact, I do not even know how old I am.  I know I was born in 1981, but haven't had the time or motivation to do the math.  If you want to figure it out, go ahead.  The house is coming together.  We still have a long way to go but at least I have a 2013 kitchen and dining room.  The rest of the house is still circa 1961, but the sixties were an alright time in our history I think so I'm not in a huge rush. 

We have great plans for gardens and my quail and a few other fun projects, but need to get the kitchen wrapped up first.  I look forward to what adventures we find next.