Tidmore Time

I've gotten to see my best friend Traci several times this month! Traci and I talk a lot, and e-mail, but we rarely get to see each other, so it's been so great to get to see her and her family some lately! The first time was when we took a weekend trip to Nashville. We stopped at Traci and Matt's house and spent the night Friday, which cut our trip in half. Felicity and Sophie got some good girl time in! Since they are only about a month and a half apart, it has been so fun to go through all the pregnancy and baby stuff with my BFF! :) Olivia was the life of the party! That girl is a live wire and seriously one of the smartest little chicks I know! She was singing us songs about how she likes dirty socks, and the books of the New Testament. I think she liked me pretty well... I mean I think she's finally putting a face to the person that keeps her mom on the phone endless hours! My favorite thing from this night was the following conversation:
Olivia: How long are you gonna stay here?
Me: Forever. I'm moving in with you.
Olivia: {Looking at me very seriously} You don't have any cloths here.
Me: I thought I could borrow some of yours.
Olivia: Well, I have a Minnie sleep shirt you can use.
{She runs upstairs and brings it down to me. I'm already laughing and being that it's close to midnight we are all getting a little slap happy!}
Olivia: Here you go.
Me: Well, I would wear it, but I'm allerigic to pink.
{Olivia pulls back, with a surprised and slightly horrified look on her face}
Olivia: Oh!
We all burst out laughing and I hugged her and told her we were kidding her, but that was just priceless!

This past week, Traci called me and told me they were going to be in town and asked if we might could get together. We made plans to meet at a park. It was supposed to rain, so I cleaned my house just in case, but the bad weather held off and we got to enjoy a few hours at the park. We ran into Crystal and Vickie there celebrating Mercy's birthday too! After the park, we went to McD's yo eat and let the kids continue playing. Here are the Dad's with their little teething girls. Gotta be chewing on something I guess! At first the boys told me that they didn't know Olivia so well, but by the end of our playdate, they were loving it!And both times we saw the Tidmore's, Olivia makes it a point to tell us that our baby is a lot more fun than her baby cause her baby doesn't play yet. She is so funny!

I didn't get a picture of Traci and me, because as usual, we were too busy taking pics of everyone else. Thank you Trac for your friendship. I know I will ALWAYS have fun with you and I know that you are one of those friends who will ALWAYS be there. I'm so glad you're my friend.

Pure Cuteness!!

I swear I kiss that little face about a million times a day!

This was about a week and a half ago... she will now get to things much quicker. She gets up on her hands and knees but isn't sure what to do next. And while we were in GA, she pulled up to her knees by herself. Sometimes, I find myself begging God for a pause button!

A Trip Around the Disney Speedway

Having more fun at Disney World!!!!!!!

AL Egg Hunt

Hank had to be at work by four so we left by 1:30 and headed back to Bama. Dropped Hank at his car, then took the kids over to my parent's house! We chatted and talked about our days until my sister Tonnie and her family was there as well as my brother and his family. Then it was time for a much different kind of egg hunt! This time, 72 hard boiled eggs, well-hidden several times did the trick!

We got all the cousins ready to hunt... ... hid all the eggs, and unleashed the beast, so to speak!

These eggs were hidden in holes, under leaves, in flower pots, etc. so it was more of a challenge for impatient little boys! It was enough to make good little boys, think about being bad!

But the rewards far outweighed the frustration!! They were absolutely thrilled when they found one... especially on their own.

Well, that was the end of our really long Easter weekend! It was a lot of fun and the kids were satisfied and exhausted come Sunday night.

With all the egg hunts, baskets, and candy, it would seem that our little family somehow lost the meaning of the Easter season. But I can assure you, if you ask one of the Boemer boys why we celebrate Easter, they would tell you that it's because, "Jesus is still alive!"

GA Egg Hunt

My mother-in-law and sisters-in-law don't do anything halfway or half-hearted! So about three years ago, we started having a family egg hunt. It started with I think 300-400 eggs... and has steadily gone up over the years till it was over 700 this year! All of those eggs are plastic and filled with candy... talk about a sugar high!

But... before the hunt could begin, we had to get the kids to wake up (tough to do when they try their best to stay up all night playing!), and let them see what the Easter Bunny brought!They seemed thrilled with their baskets!
Donnie Mac (5) got some Star Wars guys. He is also a Star Wars fanatic!Sophie got a few little things like these linkable rabbits, which were promptly tasted! Then it was time to hunt eggs.All 10 cousins wait to get started! My sister-in-law Jackie made the bags for everyone, cause last year we looked a little redneck with our Wal-mart bags! :)
We divide the cousins into two divisions: the little five and the big five. Very technical, I know. We give the 'littles' about a half minute head start then let the 'bigs' loose! The eggs were pretty much just scattered on the ground! We made sure to hide the prize eggs, but the rest were just first come, first serve. I like this one. It's Hank with his two sisters watching all the action.
Then we all headed inside, because it was a surprisingly chilly morning, and counted up who all had the most and found out who found what prizes! Tres got an I-tunes card (which he gave to his cousins in exchange for Legos), and Bryant found a money egg with $5 in it! It was a blast! And our day didn't end there!

Easter Weekend in Georgia

We spent Easter weekend with Hank's side of the family in Georgia. We ALWAYS have such a good time! We barely see the boys since they are so wrapped up in their cousins. They play outside for hours, then come inside and hole up in a room playing video games or legos. The Halls got a new silver lab named Scout. Isn't he adorable? And he is so laid back that even Tres, who is desperately afraid of dogs, made friends!
When we go to Aunt Betsy's house, there is always the added fun of four-wheelers. I don't have pictures to show you, but Hank told me that they were riding them like pros by the time we hit the road home. Saturday was a fun day full of family! Most of the girls headed out, as is our normal routine, to shop! A couple of my nieces needed Easter dresses, and we were all finishing up Easter baskets. Then we went and grabbed some lunch at Chik-fil-A, but not just any Chik-fil-A. We went to one that sat you, and you ordered from an extended menu! It was fun. I snapped this picture of Heather(4) and Ashton(13) while we waited on our food. Aren't they so pretty?
Then, we went with the Halls to Saturday night Easter service, and the Welborns and Mr. & Mrs. B went to a local catholic service so that we could all enjoy the day on Sunday.The boys looked cute in their matching Disney sweater vest for the second year in a row! But, hey, they still fit and they still look brand new! Hank and I just wore whatever, cause we all know it's not about us anyway! Smile! And Sophie got to wear her brown and pink dress for the first time! I even found a pink bow with brown polka dots to match, and it actually stayed in her hair without a band! And I couldn't resist taking a picture of my nieces. They are getting so grown up and gorgeous!

Okay, this is getting long, so I will have to start another post for the GA egg hunt... with over 700 eggs!

Easter Tradition

Every year, my Mom organizes a night when she invites all the grandkids over to hard boil eggs and dye them for the Easter egg hunt. It was a lot of fun this year! Everyone except Sophie was really into it!
Bryant was so careful when he did it! He needed help dropping the eggs in and was a little inpatient and would declare them, "Done!" about 5 seconds after he dropped them in. He seemed to be interested in making sure he dyed the most eggs!Tres was content to use the 'magic' crayon before he dropped eggs into the dye to send special messages! He would let his eggs soak for a while. And he wanted to mix colors! Then when he saw grandaddy eating one that had gotten cracked, he started declaring perfect eggs damaged and eating them!Tyler was probably the most excited to get started and the quickest to be done with the whole process. He just wanted to play! He loves tatoos, and I love that when he shows you the ones he gets on his tummy, he pokes it out! He is such a sweet little boy!Luke man was serious and studious while he dyes his eggs. Then as he watched Tres eat one of the many cracked eggs, he decided to try an hard boiled egg for the first time! He decided he liked the white but not the yolk!Sierra is such a sweet cousin. She helped everyone with their eggs, and took great pains to decorate her own very precisely. This is one of the sweetest little girls I know, and I couldn't love her more if she was my own!

Notice my very pregnant sister-in-law in the background of this picture. Kayla is due any day now with a new nephew, and play-mate for Sophie, Brody!

Just when I thought I was done with boxes...

More proof that toys are a waste of money!

Small project

Another of the small projects on our list is to update all the hardware on our doors. When we first moved in one of the minor, but important changes we made was adding a key-entry lock to the door leading into the house from the garage. It was just a matter of feeling safer, you know? So when I found a Schlage key-entry door knob on sale at the hardware store, I jumped on it! I know these are things that a lot of people don't think about, but I do. I would love to update the brass finish door knobs throughout our house to silver or brushed nickle ones! I just think it looks classier and more up-to-date.

Do you guys notice things like the finish on your knobs and hinges?

Everything but the kitchen sink!

We have begun the changed in our house slowly. We made decisions on what we could afford to do and what needed to be done. We gathered material for some projects (like tile for the hall bath), but haven't found time to do it just yet! Our lives just seem to be crazy that way! And we plan to sand and paint the vanity cabinet like we did the kitchen, because those came out so well! But we plan to upgrade the countertop and add another vanity to that before too much longer. It currently has one sink and the original countertop with a cheap faucet on it. We want two sinks and we've already purchased the faucets for this bathroom. I just happen to know a FABULOUS plumber! Wink!! My dad already got us a new kitchen sink and faucet and installed it for Christmas. Have I ever showed you guys a picture? I love it! And the sink is extra deep, which works great if we decided to bathe Sophie in there.

Magic Cribs?

Sophie has two teeth now! I felt them both before I knew they were there. Ouch! And she has another really swollen part on her upper gums. I seriously starting to think about weaning her now.
She is such a doll baby, my little Sophie girl! I just wish that somehow this whole teething process could be a little easier, you know? She will do a couple of nights sleeping all night, then a couple of nights waking up every hour starting at 3 am. Not fun, to say the least! I wish somewhere, someone had developed baby cribs that automatically soothed and rocked in the middle of the night! I would pay a fortune for that! We have gotten her a couple of fuzzy, blanket type sheets that keep her nice and cozy at night... but that's just a small thing!

Did I tell you guys that she has graduated from the bouncer, entertainment portion of her walker? Now she pushes herself around the kitchen. And when she sits up she tries so hard to rock forward! My mom is convinced that she isn't going to crawl, she's just gonna take off walking one day. She does like to stand up. I have really, really cute pics of her to post when I can find the card from my camera!

Evaluations

When I worked at the local ABC affiliate, I always dreaded evaluation time. Not because i thought I had done a poor job, but because it meant a sit down with the boss and a play-by-play of what they believed needed improvement. Again, I don't shy away from hard work or constructive criticism, but man is it tough to sit across from the person you want to impress professionally and listen to all your mistakes! I wish they had had some performance management software when I was there. That way, the boss evaluates you and you can access it online instead of face-to-face! I love that idea. You get your evaluation, then all of a sudden you become to perfect employee overnight and your boss is impressed!

There are a lot of major name-brand companies that utilize this system.

Jelly Belly
"This software helps us to organize and automate our appraisal process and make it more user-friendly and more thorough. Halogen's product completely formalizes and organizes our employee evaluation process. It allows us to standardize competencies across job classifications, add signature and comment sections to make our process more interactive, and increase accessibility for remote managers. More thorough and accurate reviews will also help to clarify expectations and corporate HR objectives, and increase staff satisfaction."
– Jeff Brown, Director of Human Resources

Disney Pictures

Here are a few pioctures from the boys trip to Disney





More to Come Soon

I fought the law...

Do you know what I hate? That sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you look in your rearview mirror and see flashing blue lights. I was coming home from volleyball practice last week on the interstate and noticed a great deal of people getting pulled over. I tend to be a 'grandma' type driver and had my cruise set on the speed limit, so I thought nothing about it. Until I look in my review mirror and see the dreaded blue lights flashing. Thinking he was after someone else, I pull into the next lane, and he pulls right behind me... so I pulled over! I was confident I had done no wrong!

The state trooper comes over to my window and asks for my license. I asked him what I had done, and he told me I was doing 70 in a 60. I apologized and he let me off with a warning since I haven't had a ticket in over five years.

Now, I can't say the same for my wonderful husband. He had the pervebial lead foot! He got a ticket a couple of months ago, and I thought for sure our insurance was going to drop us, so I did a bit of car insurance shopping. After comparing prices on a couple of auto insurance quotes, I started praying we wouldn't get dropped! They were so high!!

By the way, I went back down that stretch of interstate the next day, and guess what the speed limit was? 70. If he had given me a ticket, I could have fought the law and won! Anyone singing a certain song in their head right now?

I'm ready

I am ready. I am tired of myself, and I'm starting to feel the motivation get down in my bones. I want to finally get rid of this baby weight. I want my husband to look at me and think naught thoughts! Ha! I want to feel good and most of all I want my kids to see me feel good about myself mentally and physically. I have a friend who recently decided to start loosing weight. The first thing she did was go and get her colon cleased! She said she was detoxing her body and wanted to get as much of the toxins out as possible. She actually went to a specialist or doctor... or whoever you go to and had to done. But I've heard there is a colon cleanser product available. I'm not sure I would be brave enough to try it... but I wouldn't mind hearing more about it.

Eclectic

Hank and I are in serious need of a few pieces of office furniture for our downstairs den. We were given a small and extremely used little desk not long ago, but I would love to have a corner desk. I would love to have my keyboard and monitor off of the top of the desk. I would also love to have an orderly place for my printer, hard drive, etc.

Is you house a hodge podge of furniture like mine is? We have bunk beds from my husband's college days, a wrought iron bed frame from my aunt that doesn't exactly match our dark cherry furniture, a dresser in SOphie's room from my aunt... I mean every room has a mismatch piece in it. I don't mind! In fact, I believe it gives a home character! But there are certain pieces I would really like to replace. The first would be this slightly disfunctional, but free, desk!

'Real' Reality TV

I just got through watching the finale and update show on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. Can I just say that that is one of the realist shows I have seen on television. I guess it would be hard to make drug rehab look glamorous. I was really happy that most of the people had stayed clean and sober! You find your self really rooting for these guys. They not only have to deal with the physical effects of the addiction with all the withdrawals from detox... they have to try and find the root of the problem. It was an emotional and raw show for me to watch.

That kind of 'disease' seems like such a foreign concept to me. It's hard for me to imagine being so dependent on something that it consumes my life. I just praise God for my parents. I truely believe that they led by example in this area of my life!

Jump... For My Love... Jump In

My parents recently aquired another kiddie attraction at their house: A trampoline.All the grandkids absolute love it!! And the amount of energy they expend while they jump their little selves silly is very much appreciated by the parents.They played all sorts of games... break the egg, zoo (since the net is up, they kept calling it a cage!), and we taught them how to do bounces off their knees, bottoms, and backs.

They also liked doing karate kicks! I was laughing so hard at Bryant's version of "Ha Ya!" That kid makes me smile.

They even got me jumping around like a kid! As you may notice, I was never a cheerleader... just a wannabe! :) I grew up on a farm with horses and cows and what not. We had a trampoline for a brief time before a tornado came through and knocked down 43 trees on our farm and tossed our trampoline up in the trees like a frisbee! We found the springs for it for months to come.

Ava Sophia Boemer ~ 7 months old

-She smiles almost constantly!
-I think when she looses her 'baby fat' on her face that she is gonna have a dimple. She has an indention in her cheek when she smiles anyway.
-She says 'da da da da' all the time!
-She likes to growl to get your attention.
-She has one tooth!! And she knows how to use it... ouch!
-She loves sitting up.
-If she is holding onto your fingers she can pull herself up to standing.
-Her hair is coming in fast!! And it's still very dark!
-Her eyes are probably gonna be brown, but for now they are a gorgeous dark green.
-The birthmark under her arm has faded some, but the one on her chest is still dark.
-She is learning to wave... see above video.
-She recognizes Momma and Daddy when she is asked where they are.
-She gets super excited when her brothers enter the room. Bryant likes to kiss her and play with her. Tres likes to entertain her and make her laugh.
-I call her braille baby because she just has to feel your face sometimes! And I love that.
-When she suck on her paci, she does this throat noise that's hard to explain. She goes 'um, um, um, um' on an up and down inflection pattern. I'll try to capture that on video soon. It's my favorite thing she does right now!
-She weighs over 14 pounds now. She's still little, but feels more solid!
-She nurses 3 times a day and eats baby food and cereal the rest of the time.
-She also snacks on crackers, cheese puffs, biter biscuites, and snack puffs with extremely diluted apple juice or water.
-She goes to bed around 8 every night. When she is teething or not feeling well, she will wake up around 5 to nurse, but most of the time she sleeps until 7 or 8.
-She is in 3-6 month and some 6 month clothing.
-She wallows in bed, and sleeps with a silkie and paci.
-She started clapping or what looked like clapping last week and was super pleased with herself.
-She jabbers and talks so loudly in the car that it's almost impossible to talk over her!
-She loves to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and will sit through an entire episode.
-She has fallen off of my bed... but hey, that's supposed to be good luck, right?
-She rolls and rolls or twists and turns on the floor (or a bed) until she gets where she wants to be.
-She tries to push her knees up under her and ends up doing a face plant in the carpet! :)
-She snuggles so sweetly.

Covered

I gotta tell you, we have been pretty frustrated lately with insurance. We've had the same insurance for as long as we've been married, but somehow the out-of-pocket expense for each child we've had has magically gone up. When we had Tres, we paid about $150 out-of-pocket. Then when we had Bry, we paid about $300. When we had Sophie, we ended up paying nearly $1000 out-of-pocket. Not fun, but well worth it. When we started getting the insurance bills, I added them all up. If we didn't have insurance we would have paid nearly $20,000!!! That's a car, people! I told Hank that we need to keep a better eye on the changes that have obviously been taking place with our insurance carrier.

I wonder how people do it who have no insurance or have to deal with Medicare. I think they are trying to make medicare a little more user friendly, but from what I've heard, it can pretty much be a nightmare of logistics when you are covered by medicare. Maybe programs likemedicare part d, can help give it a little better reputation! This particular program is designed to help with prescription medications.

Sick Sophie Girl

I had to take Sophie in to the doctor again today. This was her 3 trip in as many weeks. The first was her well check up, then last week, she developed a dry cough. By this week, she has a severe cough and green snot! Yuck! Then besides that she has a low fever and is clingy and moody at times and has a tough time sleeping at night. They gave her a shot of meds today to try and get her to feeling better. The next step, if the meds don't work their magic, will be a nebulizer. But that would be some out of pocket expense for us. Not that our kids aren't worth it!

We've been running humidifiers for our kids since the cold and flu season started. But I wonder if we should get an air purifiying system to try and eliminate some of the nasty germs and bugs floating around. Maybe if we got one of the air cleaners available, we could spend less time sitting at the doctor's office and more time having fun!

Sophie is sleeping right now... a side effect of being traumatized by the shot I'm sure.

A Christmas Memory

I've been fortunate in my life, I think. I've know very few people that have struggled with addiction problems. I can recall a cousin having a problem with alcohol when I was young. I remember very vividly one Christmas gathering when I was about 10. My cousin had gotten drunk and was involved in a severe car accident. The car he was in had driven up an on-ramp, and drove head-on into a man headed home to his family for Christmas. The man was killed. Also killed as a young lady who was in the car with my cousin. That was a very tense and gloomy Christmas gathering. No one knew if he would live or die... and if he did live, if he would go to jail and for how long. My cousin survived, and I believe he served a short sentence because it was never determined beyong a shadow of a doubt if he had been driving or if the young lady who was with him had been driving. He did have to seek treatment at a drug rehabilitation center. He's doing well now. He met and married a wonderful women and they have three beautiful children. I think getting treatment saved his life.

"Stolen From..."

Okay, so call me weird, but I have certain pens and mechanical pencils for certain things. I have a pink, ball point pen in my purse for writing checks. I have a glittery gold mechanical pencil I use to balance my checkbook. I have a Strawberry Shortcake pen for making my grocery list. I like to use them until they are gone. But sometimes, they disappear from where they are SUPPOSED to be!! Does anyone else have this problem? I would like a set of personalized pens so I can keep better track of them. I think I would like mine to say, "This pen was stolen from Jamie!" And maybe I would get some really cool ones, so that you couldn't hide the fact that it was stolen!! :)

When I worked for my Dad at his plumbing company, we used to get all sorts of promotional pens. I loved those things! I would use them until they ran dry. I think I should send in the idea that they need to personlize their pens with the "Stolen From _____" message!

Las Vegas Honeymoon

My anniversary is less than a month away. Hank and I have talked about taking a special trip this year... just the two of us. And we were really thinking about heading to Disney, but something more grown up sounds more fun to me! When Bryant was a baby, we got to go to the Kentucky Derby for our anniversary and it was a blast!! I mean, we had so much fun! And we got to go to Colorado a few years back for a week, just the two of us. Now we are thinking about Las Vegas. It's a place neither of us have been, and wouldn't mind experiencing. I have a friend who lives there. Her husband is in the Air Force and is stationed there. She said we could stay with her, but that doesn't sound like we could get in much romance, you know? So I thought we could look into some discount hotels Las Vegas style! I found some starting at $35 a night! I guess that's the good news about a city that has so many hotels! You can find a great rate. Now, I wonder if I could find one with a heart shaped tub and a vibrating bed? Wink!