Things...

We made about 80 cookies the day before, so there would be plenty to decorate.

I know I said I would be back and then well... we got sick again. All of us. Sebastian had a 103 temp for days, then I got sick, then Savannah was down. Tim was sick while all of us were sick. I think we are finally on the mend. I really was beginning to feel like we may never be well again. Add to that, a lot of stuff to do. Just stuff. Lots of it. I don't have anything really big to do until Christmas. I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned today. I wanted to disinfect everything. I also made some fudge. I have one or two more things to get at the store and I have to finish wrapping. Other than that, I want to make cookies and cinnamon rolls. I would say that means I will blog and I will blog alot, but the truth is that my heart hasn't been in blogging. Not really sure why. My mom says it is because I am on Facebook now. It could be. There is more feedback there. Here, I write and never really know who is reading or what they think. I still think there is a need for myself to keep blogging. I just needed the break. I plan to come back, but it may not be tomorrow. There are so many things I want to record on my blog. Someday I want to print it out for my kids. With that I will leave you with pictures from our cookie decorating. We had a party with homeschool kids. It was so much fun and maybe it will become a tradition.

LOOOOOONNNNGGGGG Absence...

I think this is the longest I have gone without blogging. I was sick and then I had company coming and then there was the holiday and then I was sick again. I am pretty darn tired. I have a lot to do. I am neglecting my blog. It is like I know it is there and I want to write, but I also want to read a book. I never really read a book except to my kids. If I have free time, I am usually on my computer. I started reading Twilight this past weekend because I was sick. I am a little over halfway through. I have heard I will want to read the next 3 books right away. We will see. Maybe, not so sure yet. Anyway, I want to finish my Oklahoma posts. Really, the most important ones are yet to come. I have some "free" time this week that I am going to use to work on Christmas cards and reading my book. Then I want to try to come here to finish off my trip posts. Then there are still the pictures from the kids birthday from back in October to put to music and oh, the list goes on and on. Maybe when I retire!

I'm sick...

I have a cold. A rotten, stinking cold. I plan to finish my trip stories. Today, I just wanted to lay on the couch and watch The Partridge Family and The Monkeys. Then I remembered that I wasn't 9 years old anymore. Those shows weren't on. If you are a child of the 80's - do you remember staying home sick from school? Do you remember watching these shows? The others like Green Acres, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Gilligan's Island, etc? I loved staying home to watch tv... not that I did it very often. I liked laying on the couch all day. It was so relaxing. THAT. DID. NOT. HAPPEN. TODAY. I tried to sleep in. I thought just maybe that would make me feel better. My darling last child is NOT sick. He was up with the sun and chattering away. I tried to take a nap this afternoon. Again - NO. NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN. Oh well, there is always bedtime that will come soon.

Five years...

This is the card. I couldn't make it bigger. If you click on it, it shows up bigger.

Today marks a day that so many of us wish was not true. Today, it has been five years since we lost Debi. I always think about her - every day. I thought about her every day before we lived here and now that I see her children on most days - she is on my mind. I have been missing her more lately because I feel like I need my friend back to get me through all the "stuff". I want to talk to her and share all sorts of things. I have been thinking about posting about this since a sermon at church. It was about angels. I just never got around to it. Today is a good day to post about angels. On the morning after Debi died, Tim wanted the family to go to Burger King. I think he just needed to get out of the walls surrounding us. We took the kids and my mom and headed off. I was so numb. I literally could not feel anything, but extreme grief. I couldn't eat and I couldn't think. I felt like the air had been sucked out of the world. I sipped on orange juice and we just all sat very quietly. Tim still smoked at the time. He went outside to smoke and the kids and I followed him. I felt so lost that I couldn't bare for him to be more than 2 feet away from me. We were at a Burger King on a busy Florida road. It was not a place for people to be out walking their dogs. Out of nowhere, this elderly couple walked up to us with their dog or dogs - I can't remember if they had one or two dogs. The kids started petting the dogs. I couldn't speak. I couldn't move. I was doing all I could to control the sobbing that had started the night before. This couple didn't speak either. They just stood there quietly. It was sorta of odd, but peaceful. The next thing, I know, they hand me a card sharing with me the Way to Get to Heaven. It was a simple little business type card. It just told the truth. You see, I was raised to believe in Jesus and who He was. I believed in him, but I always had doubts. Not atheist type doubts, just doubts. I didn't have a real religious identity. I believed, but I wasn't sure what I believed. This may or may not make any sense, but it is the best way I can describe it. I stood there looking at the card. The tears were beginning to fall. Debi knew me so well. She knew I was a person who needed concrete evidence. I liked facts - all neat and orderly. I was so worried about her. I knew she was in heaven, but what about before she got there. The fear was more intense than I can put in words. Tim kept telling me that God was there with her and He protected her. I held that card in my hands and knew that she had sent me these angels to give me comfort. They were angels that told me she was okay and there was one way to get to heaven. I believe in angels. They are all around us. I believe Debi is an angel and she is still helping people like she always did. It has been 5 years and it still hurts and I still miss her.

Oklahoma or BUST part 4...

Creepy gun store.

Outdoor World

We had planned to go crystal mining on this next day, but the weather didn't look good. We also called the place we had planned to go and they were closed. Rather than hope for a good place to go and hope it didn't rain - we altered our plans and headed to Oklahoma City. It was about a 6 hour drive, not too long, but not exactly short. We got to OKC about dinner time and decided to Bricktown. I had read a little about it, but didn't really know all that much. It was chilly and drizzling (so I didn't stop to take any pictures). We ate dinner at some BBQ place that I can't even remember the name of. Tim II had called me while we were there and told me his throat had swelled shut from his medication and he had not passed his test. Pretty much from that point on, my head was numb. I was so worried about him, that the details of what was going on around me just left me. I was worried about his health and worried we would not get to spend any time with him. I told him we were an hour away and would be there to see him no matter what. He sounded really happy that we had decided to keep moving on to OK even if we didn't know what the outcome of family weekend would be. I just didn't care because I wanted to see him so much. We finished dinner and wandered over to the big Bass Pro Outdoor World. This store is huge and has a lot to see. The kids had fun wandering around with Tim. I found a spot to sit down in and call my mom. I was pretty close to tears and I just sat and talked with her. I did snap a few pictures before we left. We headed out to our hotel. I think this was the night I took the kids swimming in the indoor pool. I was hoping to do that a few more times, but each night we got back so late.

We weren't sure what are plan was for the next day because it really depended on the weather.
When we got up it was raining and cold. We had thought about the zoo, but opted for the OKC Science Museum aka Omniplex. First we made a stop at a huge gun store. It had tons of mounted animals. Creepy in my opinion. I had to drag Tim out of this store and onto the museum. We wandered around the museum for the entire afternoon. We enjoyed the exhibits, but probably would have passed on the IMAX film. It was pretty dated and not worth the extra money. Sebastian loves these hands on museums. We had been to our state museum just prior to the trip and he had a great time trying things out. It was a lot of fun just goofing off with each other. All in all, it was worth the trip to see this. It was a little on the pricey side as far as everything else we had done. It would have been less if he had skipped the IMAX movie. I think if I were giving advice, I would say it is worth the price of the ticket, but don't add the movie. We left the museum around 5pm and were to make our way to Lawton, OK. It was a really pretty drive and I really enjoyed it. Years and years ago, when Tim and I were celebrating our first anniversary, we were going to Disney World for the first time. It was an hour and a half drive from our house. I remember being so excited and feeling like a kid. I just couldn't wait to go to Magic Kingdom. I felt this same feeling heading to Lawton, OK. I was so excited to see my son. I just missed him and wanted to see his face. When he called that night, I was so happy to tell him that we were HERE.

Oklahoma or BUST part 3...

My pictures don't really do the caverns justice. You really just have to go there and see it for yourself!

Some country road.

Soda fountain.

My nephew Josh with his girlfriend, Cara.

On our third day of making our way to see Tim II, we decided to go to the Blanchard Caverns. Again, my sister, Leann, had told me what a wonderful place this was. It was not too far from where we were staying. We got to see some pretty rural country along the way. Actually, our whole drive from SC through GA, AL, MS, TN, AR, and finally OK was very pretty. I have been driving back and forth from SC to FL that I hadn't really thought anything would look different. It was vastly different from area to area, but each had a wonderful quality about it. So, back to the Caverns. It was a sort of drizzly day, but that is perfect to go 260 feet under the ground. I was a little nervous because I don't like tight spaces, but my sister assured me that the actual cavern was HUGE. Tim did have to ask the guide just HOW FAR the elevator was going down. I could have lived without that information. When we got down there - it was just amazing! You can tell that I have spent way too much time at Disney World because my mind kept thinking that whomever did this work did and AMAZING JOB! Then I had to remind myself that God had created this masterpiece, not some Disney Imagineer. Savannah enjoyed it, but Sebastian didn't really care all that much. He did attract attention because his jacket and shoes both lit up. It helped direct the dim path for everyone! This is another highly recommended place to go around Mountain View AR. It was also very reasonably priced and well worth the cost.

We left the Caverns and headed back into the town. There is a little old fashioned soda fountain pharmacy that we went to for lunch and ice cream. The kids had fun sitting at the counter. We shopped around the shops and then made our way to where my sister lives not too far away. We went out to dinner with her family. It was a great evening of fun and relaxing conversation. Her town is a very pretty, cozy little town. When I crawled into bed that night, I was so happy that I had got to spend an evening with my sister. Sometimes things just work out and it is really just a blessing.

Oklahoma or BUST part 2...

I think I need to touch up my roots... getting a little dark on top!

One room school house.

An old fashioned seamstress.

He is making tops on a wood lathe. Tim and Savannh spent about an hour with this man learning how to throw a top correctly. Savannah chose a top as her gift.

Making candles. No, I wasn't nervous that Sebastian would stick his hands in the hot wax. Nope, not me!

Our first official non-driving day (there weren't many non-driving days), we decided to visit the Ozark Folk Center. My sister, Leann, lives in Arkansas. I had asked her about a couple of places that she had gone to on her honeymoon. This place has about 24 artisans that show how things were made in pioneer days. This fit perfect with the American Girl, Kirsten, that we were studying for school. I love, love, love it when we can take a trip that ties into what we are studying. We went to Williamsburg when we were studying colonial times, then we did this. Next up we are studying the American Girl, Addy. She was a slave. I am pretty sure I should be able to round up a good field trip for this study right here in SC. Anyway, I am moving off of my trip topic... so scattered! We were staying on-site of the Folk Center, so we did not have to travel to it. We found where the tram took us over and headed into the park. It is very quaint and friendly. Savannah was in instant love with the place. She loves watching people work on a craft of some sort. The kids made candles and watched each artist do their work. We took a break and headed to the restaurant for a family style lunch. It was also very nice. I really can't say a bad thing about this place. The cost was extremely reasonable for all you got to see. We spent hours here. My sister had told me that we could probably do the caverns and this park in one day. I opted to split it up just because I didn't want to feel rushed. I am glad I did it that way because it gave us time to really talk to each of the artists and learn about what they were doing. If you are ever in Mountain View, Arkansas, you really need to go to the Ozark Folk Center. We wrapped up our day by heading to Walmart for some crackers, cheese, sausage and the all important caramel apples. We took that back to the room and let the kids play with their souveniers outside off our patio. It really was one of those perfect vacation days.

Oklahoma or BUST part 1...

Well, it has been a few weeks since we actually left for our trip. I still wanted to post about it at some point. Today is as good as any. I am supposed to be leaving for the park in a few minutes, but the first couple of days of our trip were pretty simple. We headed out on a Friday evening to get a start on the driving. We made it to outside of Birmingham. The kids were really good and excited about the trip. I was cautiously nervous about so much driving in a short time. We got up on Saturday and drove to Mountain View AR. We had opted to rent a cabin room from the Ozark Folk Center. It had pretty decent reviews and was right where we wanted to be. We were very happy with what we found. It was very clean and cozy. After driving all day, we decided to just stay in and relax. The next day we planned to visit the Ozark Folk Center. The trip was off to a good start with lots of possiblities to follow!

Our Cozy Cabin Room.

Crossing the Mississippi River. This was something none of us had ever done before. Well, maybe I did it when I was really little. I don't remember.

Huge plant on the river.

Waffles for breakfast became a very important part of our trip.

Halloween 2008

Mmmm... Pumpkin Seeds

Grandma with Baby Lucy.

Look at the loot!

Dad was helping sort the candy.

Working on the ooie gooie part!

He really was not sure why we were keeping the seeds.

My expert pumpkin cleaner outer.

My Army Dude and Medieval Princess

Posing with their creations.

Halloween is over for the year, not that we are anywhere near being finished with the candy. I would say it was a huge success. None of us knew just what to expect being in a new state this year. We ended up only doing math on Friday and just celebrating the holiday. The kids carved their pumpkins in the afternoon. Sebastian actually took a "few" seeds out and then Sissy very nicely finished the messy part for him. My mom had one of those Mr. Potato Head kits for pumpkins. Sebastian loved poking the pieces into the pumpkin! Yay for Grandma! Savannah drew her own face this year and did a great job cutting most of it out. Then we started getting into costume early - thinking we would head out early. Well... the truth is traffic was actually crazy here. If I were still in Florida, that would be normal. That is NOT normal for here. I had to run out to pick up my mom because she hands out candy for us. There was an accident so her road was blocked. I decided to run past Sonic and Tim's work and then swing around to get her. The traffic was just amazing. I guess people seriously all get off work early and head home for the holiday. All told it took me a little over an hour to do a 5 mile loop. I was really happy the kids were already dressed up and just ate their dinner in the car. Tim got home and we headed out trick or treating. I love walking around with Tim and the kids. It was a little cold when we started out, but we warmed up pretty quickly. There were tons of houses participating. It was really great. We did our neighborhood and then went across into another neighborhood. Sebastian would have kept going another 5 miles, but Savannah's shoes were hurting her feet. So, we called it a night and headed home. Another GREAT Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

This is me! I really dressed up as a garbage bag! It was one of my favorite costumes because nobody else was dressed like me.

I am the baby and my best friend, Tricia, was Papa Smurf.
I thought it was cool that I got to take a baby bottle full of orange juice to school.

I think Tricia was trying to be a baby this time around and I was the Bride of Frankenstein. Another one of my favorites. The cabbage patch kid is Tricia's little sister, Kristi.

I woke up this morning intending to start posting a trip report of our travels. Well... my mom being the Facebook savvy grandma that she is... posted old halloween pictures on there. I decided I have not been sharing with my blogworld as much because I have been on Facebook. These pictures are so fun! I am so glad she took some pictures. You know back then we didn't always snap pictures the way we do now. Some days I take 10 pictures a day and other days I take 100 pictures. It just depends. I, seriously, have a specific pocket in my purse that my camera stays in all the time. My mom would have laughed at the thought of carrying a camera with her all the time when I was growing up. So, today is Halloween. I am being a mean and witchy mom who will require school to get done before the fun can begin. Much to Savannah's horrors!!! We will then be carving pumpkins. Last year, Sebastian was NOT into the whole pumpkin carving thing. I don't know how this year will go. I was thinking that we need to make pizza bread for dinner because that is what my mom always made on a lot of Halloweens. Of course, hot dogs would be much quicker! Did I mention that I love Halloween? There has not been a year that I have not gone trick-or-treating. I went every year as a child and even when I was pregnant with Timmy. Then I had kids and have gone every year since then. I think Sebastian is finally excited about it this year. It has taken him awhile to find it fun. When we were kids it was always cold and sometimes rainy. We still plugged along to house after house until our toes were numb. My kids are going to find it cold this year compared to Florida, but they will survive. Anyway, I wish you a fun day and evening of a time to be just a little more silly! Happy Halloween!

More words from Sebastian...

I did A LOT of driving during our trip out to Oklahoma. Tim takes prescription meds that make him pretty sleepy when he gets in the highway mode. He just prefers not to drive if he doesn't have to. That means I drove nearly 2900 miles over 10 days. Apparently, this had an impact on my youngest child. The last few days we have been home, I have had my very own cheerleader. When I pull into the driveway to park, Sebastian tells me, "Good job, mom! You did it just right!" When I turned onto a road today, he told me, "Good try mom... you got the turn really good!" He has been cheering me on with all of my driving this past week. Lots of "you drived good, mom!" as we go along! What a silly boy!

I probably shouldn't put this here, but I want to remember it a long time from now because it made me laugh really hard. One of the nights that we had to drop Tim II off at the Army base, we found another Army family having car trouble. Since Tim is a mechanic, he stopped to help. It was late and after a long day. Savannah and Sebastian were in the back of the car getting restless. Sebastian was just annoying his sister and then he was annoying me. I told him if he didn't stop, I was going to pull him out of the car and spank him. A minute went by in silence. Then he said, "Then are you going to run me over with the car?!" My mom was on the phone with me and heard him say it. She just busted out laughing! Now, I sware I would never do that, but oh, how my son makes me laugh! What a goof ball!

Little hands...

I have a lot of things to blog about and hopefully, little by little, I will get to them. It has been a busy week of unpacking, laundry and grocery shopping - with some school time thrown in where we could fit it. This morning, I read one of my favorite blogs - Amazing Trips. Jen - the author - is having a tough time deciding what is right for her triplets and her career. Full time work, part time work, full time Montessori, part-time Montessori, homeschool and a whole bunch of stuff. I feel for her. I have struggled with similar decisions in my life. Not exactly REAL career decisions, because generally I have just had a job, not a career. I left her a comment and it has been on my mind today. It was sorta long and I don't want to repeat it all here. The main part of it was about how quickly they grow up. Just last night, I was sitting here reading an email about a Marine being overseas. It brought tears to my eyes as I wondered when my very own son would be heading overseas. I closed my eyes and I could see his little face when he was about Sebastian's age. I am proud of him and who he has become, but boy - I ask myself over and over again - just where did that time go? I know that it is not possible that all moms need or want to be home with their kids. I know that is just not the right choice for each and everyone's family. I also know that it is right for my family. When Timmy was 4 years old, I worked full time. Yes, I missed some of his really frustrating battles from that age. I also missed a whole bunch of fun things from that age. Now, I am here with Sebastian. Some days I am so tired, I can barely think straight. Right this very minute, Savannah and Sebastian are screaming at each other. I am not loving this moment exactly. I remind myself it is brief and it will be gone before I know it. I am not a perfect mom. I get tired and I scream. I am loud and I get annoyed. I don't have the patience of a saint by any means. I just do the very best that I can each and every day. That brings me to this afternoon. I bought another 80lbs of hamburger that needs to be repackaged into smaller bags. It would be much easier to do this by myself. I could do it much quicker and with less mess. I am also going to make 14lbs of meatballs. Sebastian wants to help. His little hands want to do the work with me. There have been moments when I just want to tell him to scoot away and let me get my work done. Then I remembered my words to Jen at Amazing Trips. I told her they grow up in a blink of an eye. I know because I have seen it happen with my first. So, I am praying for patience and letting him fill these bags with me. It won't be all that long that he may be several states away and I will be missing him more than I could have ever imagined.

Our soldier...

Hey there. Some of you I have talked to or in some way got in touch with you, but the rest of you I haven't. Anyway, the good news is my son is AMAZING! The not so great news is that he missed passing his PT test by less than 10 seconds. Man, that stung to hear. I felt so stinking bad for him. Apparently, it showed on my face. I was sitting on the ground waiting for him to come down. His 1st sgt came over to me and asked me who I was waiting for. I told him and he asked me if I knew he didn't pass by such a close call. I told him I did. He went on to tell me how amazing Tim II was. He told me that he wished he had more of him because he had heart and integrity. Some of his guys come by this stuff really easy and they don't really realize their potential. He told me that he firmly felt that if Tim II hadn't had all the health issues he would have passed with flying colors. He went on to say that he had cut his run time significantly since he had arrived. All of that was great to hear, but my heart still hurt because I thought I would only get to see him on Thursday. This man went on to tell me that he would see about the weekend pass for him. As of right now, we are hoping for Saturday and Sunday, but we may even get Friday. We just have to wait and see. Here is the next good thing, when Timmy came out... my little boy had turned into this man. He looks awesome! He didn't come out whining or complaining. He gave me a hug and boy did my tears flow. I just missed him so stinking much! While we spent the day with him, he told me some things. He is sorta good with going on to FTU to get more physical training because you have to run even faster in AIT or you lose privileges. He said he would rather go on to this now than have a tougher time in AIT. This seems to be a well thought out process. For this mom, it pretty much guarantees he will be home for Christmas because AIT shuts down then. One final thing, my sister-in-law, Karen sent me an email about God's plans. She reminded that God may have had an excellent plan for him to head off to FTU for awhile. It may be to keep him safe at some point or meet his mate. It may be just as simple as spending one more Christmas at home. It may be for any number of reasons, but it is all part of God's plan for him. It helped for me to get that perspective from her. Did I mention that I have an amazing family? Anyway, I appreciate all of you and your thoughts and prayers. I will keep you all updated on our new, long and winding road.

Update on Tim II...

Hey! I am writing from Oklahoma City tonight. I got a call from Tim II tonight. It wasn't what I was hoping for. He has had yet another health set back. Apparently, he is allergic to the medicine they prescribed for his ulcer. His throat swelled nearly shut. He still did the run on Monday, but did not do well. He did not go to the clinic, yesterday, because of Columbus Day. He went in today and the doctor told him he should have gone the ER and he was very lucky his throat didn't close all the way. Unfortunately, the doctor put him on what they call PROFILE for 72 hours. This means no physical activity. He asked if he could be cleared to retest on Thursday. The doctor said he didn't think so, but to come back on Wednesday. I told him that we were only an hour away and we would be there tomorrow. He sounded really happy that we were coming. Honestly, I don't care if he graduates today, tomorrow or next week. I just feel bad for him because he has worked so hard and just keeps getting all this health stuff thrown at him. I called my mom tonight while Tim shopped in the Super HUGE Bass Pro store. I was pretty down and bummed for him. My sister, Michelle, got on the phone with me. She told me that God has a plan for him and that He is just testing my faith. It wasn't what I wanted to hear. I wanted to just cry to my mom and be down, but my sister wouldn't let me. She reminded me of what a great attitude Tim II has had and how lucky I am to have such an amazing child. She told me to pray and pray and then just pray some more. So, that is what I am going to do. Anything is possible!

Blog envy...

I have wanted to post birthday party pictures, but haven't. Mainly because I have blog envy. Yes, that is what I think it is called anyway. Over the last couple of years that I have been reading blogs, I have noticed something. I really love the blogs that do a slide show of something and put it to music. I am afraid to admit that I have no idea how to make a slideshow because I fear that will mean that I am getting !!!GASP!!! old. I want to know how to do that. I keep saying to myself that this is the day I shall learn to make a slideshow. For all I know, it could be the easiest thing in the whole entire world. I haven't even attempted to find out. I do know there is some website that you can do something like that on. I don't know if you can keep it forever on a cd. I don't want to spend the time doing it, if I can't keep it for my children to look at when I am 94 years old and senile. Anyway, that is one of my excuses for being absent. The other is that I have spent hours and hours looking up things to do and see in Arkansas and Oklahoma. I am so excited about going, but we still don't have the official "go ahead" from Tim II. I am trying so hard to be patient. I can't wait to see his face and have a week off with my family.

Sebastian is 4 years old today!

We have a whole family Diego party planned for tonight. Well, technically, it is a Diego and Puppies party since we are celebrating both Savannah and Sebastian's birthdays tonight. I will post pictures of that at some point. On one hand, I can't believe he is 4 years old already. On the other hand, I feel like he has really been here for 4 years. It is hard to explain I guess. He is my busy guy. He keeps me on my toes - always. Never a dull moment, that is for sure. Today, we are painting his pinata and getting it ready for his party. We have a busy day ahead of us, but I wanted to post this picture and send the post off to Timmy. On Sunday, Sebastian was out riding his scooter with Tim. He wanted to "pretend" to crash because crashing is just so cool. Well... the thing is that he really did crash! Silly boy! Tim brought him in about 10 minutes before Savannah's birthday party was going to start. The bump on his head was HUGE! I felt like I may faint. I am not kidding. I don't do well with these things. Where the heck was Timmy when I needed him. He is my medical trauma person. Daddy did just fine though. Sebastian wanted me to KISS his bump! Oh Lord... that was a tough one for me! No need to fear that he is terrified of his scooter now. Nope... he wants to try that whole crash again - his words - not mine! All boy! My dear 4 year old... here is to another year of twists and turns and ups and downs and a wonderful and exciting adventures with you! Happy Birthday to my busy, little guy!

BLAH. BLAH. BLAH.

Does anyone know how much the average preschooler talks in a day? I didn't google to see if there was actually information on this one. Maybe I should. Sebastian is going to be 4 on Tuesday. I took him off of his nap schedule about 2 months ago. We got rid of his pacifier. He is now awake from about 7:30 to 8pm each day. I am with him about 12 hours out of that 12.5 hours. He is busy and busy and did I say busy? I really LOVE that he now goes to bed around 8pm if I can get myself in gear to get him there. I like that he pretty much just goes to sleep and doesn't make me walk up the stairs 300 times to get him just one more thing. So... what is this post about? I seriously think that this child wakes up in the morning and just starts talking and talking and talking ALL. DAY. LONG. I don't know how many times a day I say shhhh... I was writing a letter to Timmy. Sebastian was standing right next to me as in he kept stepping on my feet - he was so close. He HAD. TO. KNOW. WHAT. I. WAS. TYPING. He talked nonstop. I don't know if you are like this, but I will type what I hear or what I am saying if I happen to be talking at the same time. At some point during this time, I found that I had completely blocked out what he was saying. I could hear the noise, but not the actual words. That reminded me of a time when my sister-in-law, Jessica, was living with us. She was in the car with me once and she mentioned that I only listen to half of everything people say. I stopped and thought about it for a minute. I told her that was very, very true. Then I explained to her that my children (Timmy and Savannah at the time) talked to me ALL. DAY. LONG. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. They wake up in the morning and they start talking. They eat breakfast and they talk between bites. They do their school with me and that requires talking. They ask me what they can eat for lunch and they keep talking. We do stuff in the afternoon and they are talking. They help me make dinner and they are talking. We sit down to watch a tv show and they are talking. I tell them to go take a shower and they tell me they just took a shower 2 weeks ago. They keep talking about the reasons they don't need a shower. I tell them to brush their teeth and they tell me why they no longer like the toothpaste that they were rolling around the aisle in the store - begging for. I tell them it is time for bed and they continue to TALK about anything they can possibly think of to maybe stall their bedtime. Please don't think I am complaining. Okay, maybe I am a little. I love my kids. I love what I do. I love that I am the person they talk to during breakfast, lunch and dinner. I love that I have the opportunity to teach them school and skills and so many other things. Even though I love this, sometimes, my brain just has to NOT. LISTEN. TO. HALF. OF. EVERYTHING. THEY. SAY. I just don't think my brain could take it all in and not explode. Again, I know I am beyond blessed that my children are healthy and can express themselves. I thank God for them all the time. I also pray to God that he will give me just 5 minutes of quiet time each day or I may run away screaming! BLAH. BLAH. BLAH.