Growing Up

Can someone tell me how it happens? Why must they grow up?

These days I am missing my sweet little boy.
This little boy who use to be so happy and full of love.

He was such a mommy's boy!
He wanted to do everything with mommy & always there helping out.

Excited about the next adventure that life would bring, the next fun thing.

Always so happy and on the go.....

Where did he go????

It seems these days that happy little boy who I miss dearly has grown up.
Don't misunderstand, he is still here, he is still loved very much, he has just changed, he has changed in a very big way.

While he is only 7, it seems he has this built up anger and it all started this summer. Not real sure where it has all come from but he has closed himself off. He has a bad attitude most of the time, he is very mean to me more than anyone.

We are really struggling these day to get along. Every night I hug him and tell him how much I love him but the rest of the time we are doing nothing but butting heads. I can't seem to break down the attitude or get past the aggression that he has.

Is this just a phase that he is going through? Part of the aging process? Are these learned things from the world around him? Whatever it is, it is very new to me and very hard for me to accept. I want that happy, loving and sweet little boy back. I miss him so much!!!!

SOMETHING OLD HAS NEW LIFE AGAIN

A long, long time ago my sweet little Luke had a huge love for Thomas the Train. We had lots of different types of Thomas trains including these motorized ones.

(Luke age 3)

Living in a small house requires us to keep life simple and not hold onto to many things. We had lots of these trains and I just did not have the heart to get rid of such a wonderful collection of trains. So I boxed them up into two large totes and they made their way to the garage a few years ago.
Packed up long before a second child, long before any thought of another boy finding joy in such a fun set of trains.
Yesterday, we pulled those totes from the garage shelves and the playing began.
(Also, note the Bob the Builder computer that had been tucked away also.)
Now, little brother has a whole lot of new toys to play with. The best part, big brother still wants to play and he is now big enough that he can build the tracks and mom doesn't have to.
Now, if I can just figure out how to get them to play nice together. Oh yes after a few hours of play and a little one who skipped his nap, the playing wasn't so nice anymore. Even still with the disagreements it was so wonderful to pull out a little bit of the past and share it with the present.

Have you passed down anything special from one child to the next?

Gardening

Once again this year I decided to grow a garden. I find great peace hanging out, tending to the plants, pulling weeds and just spending time in my garden.

First up in the producing department this year, cucumbers. I always tend to go over board in my planting, last weekend I pulled 22 cucumbers (large ones) out of the garden. This did not include the small ones that are not ready to come out yet.

Last year zucchini was the wild vegi, I really scaled back on it this year because I am still sick of it from last year. I have pulled a few zucchini out now as well.

Tomato's also going crazy however they are still green. We love tomato's around here so really looking forward to them turning red.

Finally, I pulled a large bag of green beans from the garden this past weekend. I really want to can these but have never canned before. I am seeking advice or help. Have you canned? Canned green beans? Any tips or suggestions you can throw my way would be a huge help.

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On a side note, hanging out today at home with my little guy. He picked up the cold that his brother had last week. However Thomas little chest was heaving up and down very hard yesterday. Took him to the doctor and after a couple x-rays and a doctors exam, he has pneumonia. He has fluid on both lungs, the doctor gave him a three day antibiotic and told me if he has breathing trouble I am to take him directly to the hospital. I don't handle this type of pressure well so I am watching him closely and trying not to over react and rush him to the hospital for every little thing. I really don't do these things well.

Since writing this post earlier today, we had to go back to the doctor, not the hospital just the doctor. Thomas developed welts all over his body, he had an allergic reaction to the medicine the doctor put him on. We now have new medicine that we have to take for 10 days, not three (bummer). I am a bit worried as the new medicine is the same that he was on last time he developed all those mouth sores. I will be watching that closely now also. You all don't care if I let out a big sigh do you?????

Gone Fishing

We have a big fishing trip planned for the near future.
We will be going out on grandpa's boat fishing, tubing, and swimming.

Someone can not wait!

MY FAVORITE

I love Target! It is one of those stores that I just love shopping in. Trust me this is a very hard thing because I don't like shopping. So for me to love your store is a good thing. It is never over crowded, it is never cluttered with to much stuff in the isles, it is always extremely clean and well organized and the people (when you need them are so helpful). I can't say that about most other stores that cause me to hate shopping.

Anyway, on one of my weekly trips to Target this week they had filled up the $1 bins with some new things. I often think of the dollar bins as items of junk but Target really does have some great things in the dollar bins. They had just stocked them for back to school and I found all these wonderful flashcards for $1.

They had so many different types and these are just as nice of flash cards as the packs back by the books that cost $5 a box. Anyway, I found some for both my boys.

For Luke:

• Addition
• Subtraction
• Division
• Multiplication
• Harmoniums
• Phonics (level 1 & level 2)
  
• Site words
  

For Thomas:

• Shapes & colors
• ABC's

It was so great last night as we sat on the floor playing with our new flash cards.
Luke was going through the phonics ones and I would hold up a card "Tr" and he would give me words using "Tr" and tell me the sound. I told him we should pick two cards every night and he write out words for me so he can practice his spelling at the same time.

Thomas was loving the shapes and colors. I really liked these as they had three of every shape, in different colors and different sizes. So I would ask which one was bigger or smaller, I would ask which circle was yellow, etc... It was really great and both boys were having fun. If their was any frustration it was coming from the two of them competing for my attention.

Before it was all said and done, all the boxes of flash cards were all over the rug (sorry no picture of that mess). This was just two boxes to start. Also, sad to say they are still all over the living room floor today.
Target also had this great teachers daily planner book ($1) and I bought it for the school year. Luke is headed into 2nd grade and it is time to make him document when things are do, what needs to be turned in when, you get the idea. Mom can't hold his hand forever so no time like the present to start learning.