Questions

Hello all,

I see no one has an overnight story for Jackson, oh well. I'm sure he'll live without them!

We are having a good morning thus far! Charlie didn't sleep much, he's got at least four teeth coming in, though I suspect six. Poor guy, he doesn't quite know what to do with himself. He's standing quite well these days, and beginning to cruise as well! I have to photograph that and add it in, it's just way too cute!

Jackson is leaving me tomorrow for two glorious weeks at his grandparents house in TN. I have NO idea what on earth I'm supposed to do here without him! He may come home next week, but I think he'll want to stay longer and I'm prepared to let him. He adores his grandparents, and his relationship with them needs to stay strong. They're great people, and I love their influence on his life.

So I see my last plea for a story prompted no replies, let's try another one.

When I ask Jackson what his favorite thing he's ever done, he says to me "I've played Dance Dance Revolution." Now that's dedication to a game, right there. One girl I babysit agreed with him, that Dance Dance is the best thing ever to do. Another girl I babysit says going to the beach is the best, while the boy I babysit says it's going to a place called Kangaroo Jacks, where he gets to do a lot of jumping.

I love telling the kids stories about me as a kid, and what I loved to do, and of things I know Robert did as a kid. I tell them about my weeklong trips to the beach, or birthday parties I went to, or even just a day here or there that I loved.

Tell me one thing you loved to do when you were little. Just one, and you don't have to use that many words. I'll embellish.
My kids are very involved with my blog, so speak up!

Thanks!!
Have a fantastic morning! We are going to the BEACH!!!

The sleepover

So, Jackson had his first sleepover last night! He's spent time away from me before, with his grandparents, so I really thought he would LOVE a sleepover. Any guesses as to what time he came home?
The funny part is that before I said he could do it, I told him I couldn't pick him up in the middle of the night, but that he could call me if he got scared. His response to that was "Mom, I'm 6, not 3!"
So at 11:30 imagine my "surprise" when I get a call that says "Hi Brandy, Jackson really wants to come home so I'm putting him in the car to bring him home!"
Wasn't it nice that she brought him? I thought so too, but my little boy was so disappointed in himself when he woke up this morning that he could barely stand it! He cried for like an hour, and we kept telling him it was no big deal, that we all had to get picked up in the middle of the night on our first sleepover! But he kept saying he was disappointed in himself, because he didn't WANT to want to come home.

So, anyone want to share "first sleepover" stories with me so I can tell them to Jackson? He needs all the support he can get about now, so please share!!

Thanks!
All is well today in the fam, hope all is well with all of yours as well!!

Friday

Hi all!
Happy Birthday to DeeAnna Brennan! Of course it isn't quite today, but we're celebrating it today.

Today has been pretty average, I suppose. I took three kids to Target, which is an event in and of itself! They did all right, really. My baby is very happy today despite getting shots yesterday!

Oh, right, the nine month well baby check! He did great, of course! He's 20 lbs, 12 oz, and 28 inches long. He's in the 50th % for height and weight, but the 90th for head circumference! We like to call him the human head! I guess now we know it's not our imagination!
But all systems were go, he checked out just fine! His doctor says he can have yogurt up to twice a day, so he's ecstatic about meal times now! As you can see, he wasn't missing any meals as it was!!

I'm sending in my resumes to all of the schools I can find that are hiring. I sent them out already to public schools, but just did to private schools. So keep your fingers crossed, or say a prayer, or hope for an alignment of the stars, whichever you think will work. It's time for me to go back to work!
I also am filling out my application to start my masters! Now THAT is exciting.

I think that concludes Friday! Have a great weekend, I'll probably check in tomorrow!
And by the way PLEASE sign my guestbook! It only takes a second!!

Good morning all!

Why hi there!
It's another beautiful morning here at the BHCS household! I'm watching all the kids play a rousing game of Vampire Super Hero Rescue. What is that? Only they know, really.
Charlie is just watching, soaking it all in!

So we're on this new kick, "going green," I guess. We're making strong attempts at whole foods rather than prepackaged foods. If anyone has any good websites related to this I'd love to read them! There don't seem to be any whole food stores here in Hampton Roads, which quite frankly is a shock! I think I saw one online, actually, but it was quite far from me! I am entertained by some parts of it. Like getting paper bags at the grocery store. I know that plastic bags are both cheaper and easier to recycle, but we don't have the resources to do it, so we get paper because we can put those in the recycle bins. LOL! Whatever. Our only big challenges food-wise are our Friday night pizza night tradition. Our kids require frozen pizza on Fridays, so I guess we'll just have to let that one slip. Does it make a big difference if you don't get the crap actually out of your system, but instead sustain it with one weekly food full of all of the things you're trying to rid your family of?

Robert has cholesterol issues and I apparently have arthritis, which is of course ridiculous, but true. If anyone knows any particularly good exercises or dietary requirements for arthritic folks, throw that in too, please.
Has anyone ever heard of those enzymes you can take to make your body process dairy, wheat, and soy more easily?

Ok, that's today. I'm going to upload some wedding photos soon from Sarah's wedding, if anyone would like to see! They're quite lovely, Sarah is such a beautiful person, not just in photos, but in person and personality as well.

Have a great day, all! I have a ton of cleaning to do, so I'd best get to it! I'm so thankful to have Swiffer in my life!!

Tuesday morning

Good morning to all! It's a new day here in the Brennan, Horney, Cantillon, Solis household! What a mouthful! I have my charges, as we like to call them, here with me and they're playing a peaceful game of Junior Monopoly with Jackson, who just politely asked "My house please?" Ah, what a cutie!
Charlie is crawling like crazy now! He's also learned to scream very loudly! But it's not anger, it's total amusement! And now he's sitting here at my feet chewing on an empty sippy cup! He's very curious, just like Jackson was! They're so fun to watch!
We have a new baby in our midst! Robert has a great nephew just 8 months younger than his son! I'm so amused by that I could just giggle! Nicholaus Javier, isn't that a fabulous name? By mom's request no photos will be uploaded, so you'll have to believe me that he's quite stunning!!
I'm on the job search these days! I should be back to teaching my own class again in September, and I'm actually, surprisingly, quite excited about it!
I have hungry kids and a fussy baby, so that's all for this morning. If I think of anything relatively entertaining to say I'll have to add it later!! Have a great day!!

oops!!

Um...where are all those photos I just uploaded???? Sheesh, this is not as easy as it looks!!

My sec ond posting, otherwise known as ????

Ok, so I'd love to update you on the day, but nothing really exciting has happened except I've discovered I'm totally inept at blogs! I want to add photos, but haven't found how. Any ideas for me? Ok, so clearly I stand corrected. Am I the world's worst blogger? Quite possibly, but in the immortal words of Katelyn, age 8, "it is what it is." Isn't she brilliant?

My first blog posting

Hi there all, I just had to get started on this blog bandwagon. We have sooo many kids, and so much happens from day to day, and on top of that, as you know, my friends are not confined to an area. You guys are just all over the place! (aren't I lucky to have so many??)

So it's July, and Jackson's six now, if you can believe that. Charlie's 9 months, Katelyn's 8, and Connor's on the verge of turning a whopping four years old. Seems like they couldn't be so old, but here we are!
We just had our first family vacation, and shared it with my family, so I would say it's well documented, and of course I'll be sharing that documentation before the day's over! First I have to take Jackson to Best Buy to spend that birthday money that's burning a hole in his pocket!!

So here we all are, and we're this great family, with all of the great-family-problems we all face each day to make us a pretty normal family in the end. I'd love it if you guys had comments on our life or my posts, and please sign the guest book, if I have one of those!! And special thanks to Caryn for introducing me to this blog place and unknowingly giving me motivation to create a blog!