Blue Eyed Boy

I’m just sayin’…doesn’t he have the most beautiful blue eyes??

Sweet & Sour Meatballs

I’m not really sure that these are actually sweet/sour meatballs, but that is what I’ve always called them!!

These are so good, and pretty quick and easy!

Ingredients:

1 lb hamburger
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1/4 c. milk
2 TB onion
1 t. salt
1 egg
(These are for the meatballs)

1/2 c. brown sugar
1 TB cornstarch
1 can 13 1/2 oz pineapple chunks, in syrup
1/2 c. white vinegar
1 TB soy sauce
(For sauce)

White Rice
Chopped Green Peppers

Mix the first set of ingredients and form into 1 1/2 inch meatballs. Cook over med-high heat until done, drain fat.

Add 2nd set of ingredients to meatballs, cover, and simmer 10 minutes. Add Green Peppers and cook another 5 minutes. Serve over white rice.

Enjoy!!

This Is What Our Animals Do All Day

Pretty much, they just sleep all day, unless they are swallowing bouncy balls that need surgery to be removed, or playing too rough and ripping large holes in their shoulders, like Toby does...STUPID DOG!

I wash the basket cover, and then the cats take it over and get it all hairy again...


Or maybe they hop up on top of the mattresses for a nap...

Yes, WAAAAAAAYYYYY up there. I don't even know how he got up there.

And when Toby isn't otherwise occupied eating stuff and getting it lodged in his stomach, he is busy being Dalton's best buddy.

And for those of you that have been over here, and have met Toby (aka: Stupid Dog, aka: Spastic Dog, aka: The Dog That Never Stops Moving)...well, here is proof that he DOES sit still at times. As long as Dalton is loving on him! I am so glad that Dalton has found a new K9 buddy!!

Trouble Keeping Up

Man, I am seriously having trouble keeping up with everything! Between working full time again, the boys and Chris, the house, the pets, and Save Our Strays…seriously, I am pooped!!

Just some cute pics for you. I thought I’d better get some out here so that the grandparents will get off my back (*cough* Dennis/Jil *cough*). Some of these pictures are king of grainy and washed out…a setting got changed on our camera and I can’t figure out how to fix out (I bet it was Jackson…)

Chris let the boys get in some coloring one night…

And now Jackson has tattoos!!

The boys helping me make banana bread…

I thought it was pretty funny that Jackson will run around in my shoes…

…until I figured out that he uses them to make himself just thismuchtaller to reach stuff!!

And I’m diggin’ our new king size bed, because when Dalton sleeps in it, he looks like my tiny little boy again. :)

Everyone Has A Shadow

Well, at least Daddy does!!

More!!

Jackson showing off his super awesome sign language skills...and just because his laugh is so stinkin' cute!!

When Did I Become the Mother of a Kindergartner?

Holy Cow! Where does the time go? What the heck happened to my “baby”? Dalton started kindergarten last week!! He is going to year round school so he started a little earlier than most.

The first day of school. I have dreaded that day for months. Well, I’ve dreaded it for the entire last year, to be honest!

We got up early and I made Dalton’s favorite breakfast…eggs and bacon! That’s what he had picked out the night before. We ate, we got ready, and we left. Jackson was also starting daycare that same day. We went first to the daycare to drop off J (because it is very close to the house). Jackson, as I expected, cried when we left. As we were walking away down the hall, and I can still hear him crying, it took everything I had to not cry, too!

Then we went to Dalton’s school. Being the first day, EVERYONE was dropping their kids off, and the school really doesn’t have any parking, so we had to park about four blocks away!!

Dalton was so excited to go! He had absolutely no reservations about going, about us leaving him, anything! He’s such a social butterfly!

He put his backpack and lunch box in his cubby, took some pictures, and he promptly asked when we were going to leave!!

 

We found his name tag, and he went about his coloring! Again, I had to work very hard not to cry.

I just can’t believe how well he did, there really was no adjustment period. So then we walk out to the car, and I’m driving back to the house so that Chris can get his car and go to work…and I’m silently crying the whole way home. (I did NOT let Dalton see me cry!). When we walked through the door, I went to the bedroom and just sobbed! I know, I’m such a pansy! When did I become such a softie??

Last week they reviewed colors and shapes, and this week they’ve been going over colors/words of colors, etc. On Tuesday he came home with just a little homework…very small stuff. Practice writing his name, and then color in a page that had the names of the colors written out, and he was to color it the correct color. So I sit down with him and I’m about to make him say the letters out loud and sound them out to me when he says “Mom. R-E-D. That spells ‘red’.” WHAT?!? I was probably way more proud than I should have been, but what?!? Well, okay then, smarty-pants, you just go right ahead with what you’re doing!

I am so proud of him.

Jackson has adjusted pretty well to daycare, although he’s already sick! By the end of the first week, he had an ear infection and sinus infection. And by Tuesday of this week, he had a fungal infection! Ok, it’s ringworm. But “fungal infection” sounds so much better than “ringworm”. When I took him to the doctor, the doctor said that they have seen numerous cases of ringworm from kids (all boys for some reason) from several different daycares, and it’s going around. Even the doctor’s nurse’s son got it from his daycare!

Jackson stayed home yesterday and today until his anti-fungal meds kick in…he will take them for SIX WEEKS, and every two weeks we have to take him in to have his liver and kidneys checked. Bleh.

But all in all, it’s gone really well. Jackson now copies everything Dalton does…and he will carry Dalton’s lunch box out to the car in the mornings (oh, how he LOVES to carry the lunchbox!). Tonight he started wearing Dalton’s backpack around the house, which totally cracked us up, because it’s about as big as he is!!

View Full Album

 

I mean, how cute is he?!?

Hello? Is This Thing On?

Wow. It’s been, what, two months since I’ve blogged? We have been SO busy around here.

Jackson started speech therapy a while back. He’s doing pretty well! He uses some sign language now. He can sign for “eat”, “drink”, “more”, “help”, and “play”. He’s SO cute when he does it too, because he’ll sign, and then he gets this giant grin on his face, like he’s so proud that we know what he wants! He has started waving and pointing, too! He still only says “doggie” and “da-da”. But we are pointing and signing, and he is now following short directions. “Go throw this away, put this in the sink” etc etc.

Save Our Strays had our big annual vendor sale in June! We did pretty well this year and raised about $5,000!! It didn’t last very long, though! We have more fosters now than ever, and our vet bills have been horrendous! We’re planning another large scale fundraiser, something that we’ve never attempted to do before. We’re going to try to hold a Charity “Fur”Ball! How cute is that?!? With food, drinks, a live band, and dancing. I hope we can pull it off!

A week after that, Grandma and Grandpa Bane and Uncle Dan and Aunt Rebekah came to visit for ten days! We did so much…went to Silver Dollar City, the Gentry Safari, swimming at the condo, it never ended!! (I am posting from the laptop because I’m too lazy to boot up the desktop, so I will have to post those pics later-)

A lot of changes are coming up…Dalton starts kindergarten on Monday! Oh my!! We had our open house yesterday and he got to meet his teacher, and we dropped off all his school supplies. It didn’t start until 9:00. At 6:50, I was getting in the shower, and he was already dressed, with shoes on and tied in knots (obviously our shoe-tying lesson the night before hasn’t stuck yet!!), and he wanted to leave. I told him we had to wait for Daddy to come get Jackson and take him to therapy before we could go. His response was “Just leave him sleeping in his cage!” (Which is his crib, we don’t REALLY make Jackson sleep in a cage!)

When we went to his classroom, the kids were to stay there, and the parents were to go to the cafeteria for our little orientation and information session. Of course I cried. I am the biggest baby!! The whole hour we were in there, I didn’t catch much of what they told us because it took all the energy I had not to bawl my eyes out! This is going to be SO much harder on me than it is on him. So then I went back to get him, and he had colored a picture and it was already hanging on the wall outside of his classroom!!

 

I don’t think his smile could get any bigger!!

So Dalton starts school on Monday (if you’re wondering why he starts so early, it is because he is going to year round school). He will be attending an after school program at a church close to us. The church van will come and pick him up after school, and you can bet for the first week, I will be stalking the school parking lot to make sure all goes well!!

Also on Monday, Jackson will start daycare! (Don’t cry, don’t cry, you can handle this, Mom!!) He will be attending the same church that Dalton will be at after school. So pick up will be easy with them in the same place.

And then <insert scary music here>, the week after…I will be returning to work. <Dramatic crescendo and cymbal crash.> We never really intended for me to stay home, and especially not for two years. We can’t pay for the therapy that Jackson needs unless we have a big increase in income, so there you have it. I will be going to back to the same job I left two years ago. The nice thing is that my boss has a son with special needs, and he understands and is going to be flexible with my need to take time off to take Jackson to and from therapy. Plus, Dalton’s school is just two blocks from my office, so I’ll be able to run over and eat lunch with him, attend his school programs during the day, etc.

Whew. I’m getting nervous just thinking about all the changes coming! I’m pretty sure I’m going to need a sedative the first day of school. I’ll probably need IV fluids from dehydration due to all the crying. I’m ridiculous, I know!

And now, the pictures that I know the grandparents have been dying for…

Dalton excitedly showing off his new unders for school!!

 

Jackson riding Dalton’s scooter, and oh so proud of himself!!

 

And of course, it wouldn’t be complete without Dalton showing off, too!

 

Dalton showing off our zucchini from our garden. Oh, that’s right, I grew this with my own hands!! Most of our plants died (we think it was a combination of things…we used super cheap potting soil, we didn’t till it before planting, we started too late and started from seed, and of course, I always forget about having to water the pesky stuff!!). However, we have awesome zucchini, several big green bean plants, a few carrots, and some lettuce. I’d say it’s a success for our very first garden. Also, either this zucchini just got missed, or our garden has a very severe steroid problem!!

And then…Dalton and I showing off our matching wounds. Dalton had to have his glucose checked at the doctor’s office recently. He asked if it would hurt, and I didn’t want to lie to him, so I said it would hurt a little. He started freaking out about it, so I asked him if it would help if I did it first. (Well, duh, of course it WOULDN’T!) What a horrible idea that was. They pricked that teeny tiny needle in my finger, and it bled. And it bled…and it bled some more. I got blood all over Dalton’s shirt, my pants, my shoes, the floor. That tiny little hole in my finger would. not. stop. bleeding! So of course that freaked Dalton out more!! But he finally did it, it wasn’t so bad, and we got matching Band-Aids!!

 

So there you have it! The last couple months in a very small, compact nut-shell!!  

And The Winner Is…

The winner of the $40 certificate for CSN Stores is:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

11

Timestamp: 2010-05-22 23:05:59 UTC

 

Congratulations to Marcie of The Miller Family!! I will email you with further information.

It’s Giveaway Time!!

It’s that time again folks! GIVEAWAY TIME! One of my favorite times. :) CSN has been gracious enough to offer this opportunity to me and my readers, and it's awesome! Just leave me a comment (make sure it’s not anonymous so that I can contact you if you win) and the winner will receive a $40 credit to spend at any of the 200+ CSN stores!! You can chose from baby toys/gear, furniture, bathroom vanities, health/fitness gear, home decor, housewares, luggage, and even clothes! It’s your choice!

CSN has over 200 stores, and your $40 can be spent at any one of them. You can see a list of shopping choices here. I mean, who doesn’t like shopping with free money?!?

So make sure you leave me a comment! I’ll randomly draw a winner on Friday, May 21st, so you have until Thursday night to get your comments in. AND I’ll even give you a second chance to win. How cool is that?!? To receive an additional entry, blog about this giveaway and link back to my post, then leave a link in my comments.

 

It’s My Turn Again!

Hey there, folks! It’s me, again, Jackson. I’ve hijacked the blog again. Man, that last time I took over Mommy was kind of irritated. She says I shouldn’t be playing with “electronics” because I could “electrocute” myself. I don’t know what that means, really, so I’m just gonna’ pretend that I didn’t hear her say it.

Mommy says that, yet again, she can’t even go out to the get the mail. Because stuff like this happens. Crackers. All over the couch. It was SO MUCH fun to just crumble them up in my super strong fists. It’s like I was Superman or someone.

And then, when she went to the bathroom, I got into all Dalton’s puzzles and dumped them on the floor! That was pretty cool, too, because they make this AWESOME noise when all the pieces hit the floor. Mom said she could hear it in the bathroom! I think that means she’s proud of me, but I’m not sure.

I’m really diggin’ hanging out front now, too. I mean, there’s no fences to hold me back, and who wouldn’t love that? I like to go through the railing slats. Mommy says she doesn’t understand why I can’t just go AROUND them, because sometimes, if I don’t turn my head right, my helmet gets stuck, and then I cry and get frustrated.

And sometimes I help Mommy prune the bushes.

And then I also like to help dump water all over water the flowers and veggies.

Mom says I need to cool it with the climbing. But it’s just so much fun! I love to climb on the couch, the chairs, the table, the fireplace bricks. Maybe someday I’ll climb Mount Everest.

 

I also like to try to eat candy…when the wrapper is still on it. Mommy says that I stole this out of Dalton’s Easter candy and that I wasn’t supposed to have it, but whatever. I mean, if Dalton left it where I could get it, then he obviously wanted me to have it.

I’m super stoked about cars and airplanes now. I can sit for ages on the floor or crawl around zooming them all over. Mommy says I should add some car noises to go with them, but I like to just sit all quiet and silently drive them all over the place. It’s also cool when Mommy trips over them, and says that I left them there on purpose just to trip her up. Hey, whatever makes you pay every bit of attention to me, Mommy!!

OH!! And ice cream cones. I freakin’ LOVE ice cream cones. I don’t know why, but Mommy makes us eat them on the front porch.

They are so good, though!

Mommy says it’s the biggest she’s ever seen me open my mouth is when I’m eating an ice cream cone.

Mommy says this is my “evil laugh” face. I don’t know what she’s talking about.

See what I mean about climbing on the table? I like to get up there ONLY because Dalton usually has a super yummy juice drink of some kind and I like to finish it off.

   

This was from last week when I had those blisters all over my face. Mommy said this was a good sympathy picture.

 

Can you guess what I’m doing here?

Oh, that’s right! I’m playing in the dog water! It’s a lot of fun.

 

I like the way it splashes on the porch.

And cups. I like cups, too. I can play with an empty cup for, like, minutes!

I like to run around in my bare feet in the grass. 

And I like our neighbor’s big flower holder thingy. Isn’t is cool?

Dalton’s been trying to teach me how to ride his scooter, but I just like to sit on it.

I like to watch TV with Daddy, too. And I MUST have control of the remote. It’s just a man thing.

Aren’t we Bane men just da’ bomb?