It's 12:45am and I am blogging...

Long boring day, what am I still doing awake? Sofia is on the couch next to me, snoring. Darius is laying in his bed, coughing, as usual. And, I should be in bed. Thursdays are now my Friday due to my latest work schedule, so I guess I am just taking advantage of my awesome 3 day weekend.

I seriously wish I had something entertaining to share, but I just don't. I am topping off this boring day, with a boring blog. I guess that would be starting off this day with a boring blog. Maybe I will wake up and have something important to share. A cool dream or something. Until then, goodnight. :)

Isn't it Ironic? Dontcha think?

Well, we live in Kansas, so I suppose rain at the most inopportune time is VERY likely. What goes better with fireworks than water? i.e. rain.... Actually, I can think of MANY things that go better with fireworks. The pool, water slide, horseshoes, water balloons. Everything I had planned for the Caribbean Night/Birthday/4th of July/Anniversary celebration. It felt like we were staring at the rain all day long, waiting for it to stop. It would sprinkle, pour, sprinkle, pour. Repeat.

The dominoes went on. The music went on. The food, went on and on, and on. The rain went on. Watching the radar, eating some more, playing in the rain. Rain seemed to be the guest of honor, and then, finally, a ray of hope.

The rain stopped just in time to go load up on fireworks, return home, get dark and light them off. It was definitely a memorable time for me at the fireworks stand. Sloshing around in mud, and somehow, I was the only who left with mud splattered up the back of my legs, all over the back of my shorts and squished between my flip flopped toes. I wish I had a picture of this lovely sight. My husband sent me straight to the shower when I got back. Apparently, this mud mess didn't look quite right on my rear.

We had a slight mishap with the neighbors firework falling over and everyone ducking for cover. I did run away and slipped in the garage falling on both of my knees, but did go back to try and snatch up my kids. By then, I think the scare was over. But, when you have shots firing all different ways and you don't know where the next one is going, things turn into chaos mode. The important thing is, I remembered to go back for my kids, even if it was slightly after the fact. Oops. I think everyone was a little weary of lighting anything...for the next few minutes.

Sofia survived the noise and she actually enjoyed herself, despite needing a nap "right now" in the middle of the day. But, Grandma Pam let her sleep on her lap, and then she was good to go.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from the evening. Sometimes you are just too busy to take any pictures. And somehow, I woke up to a clean house, all of the dishes done, not many fireworks outside to clean up and everything back in it's place. Thanks to all of our wonderful Carribean crew guests, WU family and my Mom and Grandma for helping keep things under control and picked up throughout the night. The 1st annual cul-de-sac 4th was a fun and exciting one, despire God's little rain display. But, he was generous enough to open up the floor just in time for the lightening of the fireworks. Isn't it ironic? Dontcha think?

Time for an update, just to say I blogged today.

Wow. There has been absolutely nothing to blog about lately. Nothing really interesting, besides all of the sickness at our house, which is definitely not fun to blog about. So, I will spare you the details. I could have been blogging about the Hammers successes, but I didn't want to jinx them. They did end up with a 1st place finish for the regular season and are now in tournament play. I am just going to let them have fun with this. In the end, they will still get a tropy for being first place in the regular season. It's been a long few months, but I know Darius has had a blast!

But, today is a Happy Birthday day. Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband. The beginning of July is big for us....July 1st - E's birthday. July 3rd - our anniversary (7 great years!) and then of course, July 4th - Independence Day!!!! And, for us, that means, food, friends and fireworks.

Apparently, we have a family tradition of staying at home on the 4th of July. We're not allowed to go anywhere. People can come to our house, we just can't go to others. I do appreciate that my husband gets these things in his head, and they mean a lot to him. So, this year will be a big collaboration of celebrations.... the birthday, the anniversary, Caribbean night and the 4th. I think I may actually be leaving something out, but that doesn't matter. The show must go on.

This will be our first year of having the 4th at the cul-de-sac and we are excited. I was kind of hoping that more of the neighbors would be home so we could have a big outdoor party, but it sounds like some of them will be out for awhile. I wanted to share our bakes and rum cake! But, we will still have a great time. Regular Caribbean night activities will resume in August, just before school starts. Wow. That is so crazy to even think about. So, let's don't.

We did kick off the week on Sunday with a great day at Phil's house. There were blow up water slides, a bouncer, the trampoline, the pond with paddle boat and diving board, and of course food, friends and fireworks. The 3 key F's. Unfortunately, Sofia was sick and didn't participate much in the evening. She had to be rescued by her Grandma Pam Cockerham. Thank Goodness for Grandma's to come and save you. I am sure she was feeling much better after some TLC from her. She was like a new kid when we went to pick her up. And, also a big thanks to Lisa for the Motrin. It was truly a lifesaver that night!

So, the countdown is on. Only 2 more days until the 4th of July. Happy Birthday America!

Take me out to the ballgame....

Am I seriously about to post this? Really? Admitting that I can't get enough of watching the Mini 7's play baseball? Wow. Who am I?

So, around February, some of you may have read my posts complaining about all of the baseball practices and how I hate baseball anyway, and Darius isn't going to like it, blah, blah, blah... Well, I take it all back.

The Hammers have been working so hard and have been pulling out wins all season. It has been so much fun to watch them work together and get excited to keep winning. They have been told that they can't assume they will win, and I think they all realize that, and that is very important, since they are currently undefeated. I don't even like to say that out loud. They seem too little to be keeping score and standings. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or bad thing. I haven't decided yet.

Win or lose, I will be proud of those Hammers and how well they have done this season. We've got three days straight of baseball coming up, and I actually don't mind. (And, I'm sorta tan from being forced to sit in the sun for two hours at a time, days in a row.)

Go Hammers!

CBN Memories

According to Darius, Caribbean Night has been one of the best things ever invented since moving. This is supposed to be an exclusive event and I could get in trouble for sharing so many of the details, but I just can't help it. There are so many memorable quotes, photo ops, candid kids and grown adults, just having a great time.

Darius woke up this morning and said...

"Could you please just play the Ragga Ragga song?" Darius had a great time dancing around the entire house and this was one of his favorites, although he has already complained about not letting him hear Justin Beiber. Hmmm....

Then, he walked into the kitchen and shook his head and said, "Man, this Caribbean Night, all we had was meat and grains and cheese. That would be a milk product." I guess he forgot about the cheese balls, cupcakes, cake, spinach and artichoke dip, Twizzlers, hershey kisses, some secret food that the Committee wouldn't share and cheesecake that never even made it out.

Now, the girls just float around the house. You don't hear much out of them, but they have their baby dolls and push their strollers. (Since there is so much space) And, baby Sean is up and walking. I can't wait for him to start talking!

This Caribbean night was particularly special due to the graduation of three of the committee members. The 4 members of the Caribbean Committee are now all proud alumni of Washburn University. Congratulations to 4 SMART BODS!

Darius walked up to one of our newest Caribbean Night regular, Janel, and said, "Ya know what?" Janel acknowledged him and Darius said..."My Dad's a Master." Now we're all just trying to figure out what he is the Master of.

The 4th of June

So, yes, I may be a little early for the Fourth of July, but in the world of blogs, changing your template is kind of a pain. Who has time to search for a new template when there are so many random things to be blogged about.

I labeled this the Fourth of June, because, that is just around the corner, and then, one short month from then, will be...the Fourth of July.

I don't have anything really exciting to post about, except that I am preparing for a special day tomorrow. It will be a Caribbean Committee graduation celebration extravaganza. Also, good luck to the Hammers! We will miss the game due to Ewan's graduation, but it was easy to choose which was more important. I love watching those Hammer's, but I will love watching my husband even more. Hey, I'm lucky he is even going to graduation!

The Tornado Saga

Well, anyone who has ever read my blog probably knows that this isn't the first tornado dream and certainly won't be the last. If I had the power to block out these terrifying dreams, I certainly would do so.

Last night's episode occured out in an open area similar to the cul-de-sac we live on, but Ewan and the kids and I were actually together, which is a rare occurence. I don't know why it is so much more comforting to have Ewan there in terrifying situations, especially when he thinks tornadoes aren't a huge deal, but, he was there, and I was glad.

This wasn't as long as some previous tornado dreams, but we were all outside playing. Darius was riding his bike when we spotted one tornado. I was motioning for Darius to find this little hole that we would take shelter in. The ground was white, the hole was round and about the size of a frisbee. Darius was able to get in feet first, and I was halfway in when Ewan pointed out another tornado on the other side. He was reaching for Sofia's hand and then I woke up, so Darius was the only one in this strange shelter.

We live outside these days, and the surroundings were familiar, but we are usually surrounded by our neighbors and neighbor kids. In the dream, no one was around. It was quiet and still and then the wind picked up and the tornado appeared.

Since I was awake and couldn't sleep after the dream, I made the mistake of googling tornado dreams, which surprisingly, I have never done before. Of course, there were lots of different interpretations...chaos in your life, the possibility of being uprooted to a new place, etc... but I still attribute these dreams to 1) my fear of tornadoes since I was little and 2) my kids. I started having these recurring tornado dreams when I was pregnant with Darius and for awhile, everytime I had a tornado dream, I thought I was pregnant. I always had such detailed dreams while I was pregnant with both kids, so, naturally, I put the two together. I now know that if I really was pregnant everytime I dreamed about a tornado, we would have outgrown this house long ago!

The "Glee" way

I watched previews for this show, for what felt like an eternity. The commercial with the Don't Stop Believing song got me so excited. I know this is just a show, but I love when I come across a heartwarming, funny, entertaining, not reality show, that just makes me smile. Many of my friends know that I love/loved... to sing. I don't do it much anymore, since I don't have a fabulous group of people to do it with. Of course, the things I miss most about high school are cheerleading and Singers. That shouldn't come as a shock to anyone.

Glee takes me back to the days of getting out of class to go perform at a nursing home, quick changes into our lovely gowns with strapless bra's (or lack of bra's in some cases) and hose and jewelry...the whole nine yards. And who didn't love going in someone's room and waking them up in the middle of the night/super early in the morning and dragging them to Denny's in their pajamas? It does seem strange to me that I don't remember being initiated into Singers. Maybe initiaion came after my first year. I honestly can't remember. It was like 13 years ago!

The music of Glee just makes me happy. I pretty much love every song, whether I loved or hated the original version by the original artist. I usually prefer "the Glee way."

Of course, I am already anxiously awaiting the next episode. There is such a wide variety of personalities. It's easy to get sucked in, even if you aren't into music/singing/glee clubish types of shows. Glee is great entertainment!

Master of the House

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am getting anxious for the school year to be over, and I am not even the one in school! What's with that? Well, I am really looking forward to getting my happy-go-lucky, carefree husband back. He has worked so hard, and spent countless hours on projects, homework, studying for tests and preparing presentations. This chapter in his life will soon closed in a few short weeks. There has definitely not been a lot of complaining on his end, probably more on mine.

I am so proud of his hard work and dedication, and finding a way to balance work, family, coaching soccer and school. I tell him continually how much I appreciate him for everything he does, but I don't think he will ever realize how grateful I am. We have gone through so many obstacles and experienced so much joy together. I know that the best is still yet to come! I'll be ready for this MBA graduate to take back his favorite position...Master of the house. (Or, I will let him think it's his title anyway.) :)

Kindergarten Roundup

Well, the time has finally come. My Sofia will begin kindergarten this fall. I can't believe that both Darius and Sofia will get on the bus together and disappear for the day. What am I going to do?

Kindergarten Roundup was held on Thursday, April 1st, and Sofia really had a great time. They arrived and picked up a Sheriff badge with their name on it. Sheriff Sofia and I headed into the library to begin the process.

They took the kids to do some informal assessments, play and get familiar with the idea of going to school. We took a bus ride around the area and they each received a cowboy hat when they returned. Roundup ended with a visit to the kindergarten classrooms.

I know that Sofia is ready for Kindergarten, but I am not so sure that I am ready for her to go to kindergarten!