ELEVEN

It happens quickly, but honestly it is enjoyable each of these phases thus far.  And really the biggest recent change is Anthony no longer enjoys going with the flow.  He speaks some of his mind and desires now.  It caught me off guard as we neared his birthday.

What do you want for your birthday?
His only real requests were Black Ops 2 (p.s. I don't deal w/ electronics), gift cards and money. (p.s. 2 I nearly 100% refuse to buy/give gift cards and money to anyone.  I just HATE giving a gift that's value is so obvious.  My typical "go to" is setting a price limit and getting great deals so it appears I spent more than I did)  He did finally tell me he wanted a set of earbuds....yes just simple earbuds.

So I asked him many times what He wanted me to get him for his birthday and never got any ideas.  Most times he didn't even ask for the video game.  I (jokingly) told him, if you can't come up with anything, I'm not going to buy anything, so you better come up with something.

What do you want to do for your birthday?
All he wanted was to have his 2 typical friends over for a sleepover.  Nothing much different than his every weekend life.  I had offered ideas like Cici's Pizza w/ school friends too, the movies, snow flex.... and still he just wanted to stay home, play video games and watch netflix. Apparently he is fully satisfied with his normal day-to day life.

And so that's how it went.  We just invited his two friends Will and Alonza for a weekend sleepover. My first day off in three weeks was the Wednesday before his bday so I went and got supplies. Of course that evening he told me he would like a Steelers theme, so after work Thursday I went to Walmart to get yellow and black decor instead of the generic paper plates and such I already had.   I've been working some crazy hours so I set up some minor decorations on Thursday night.

Now my favorite laugh.  After I set this up, he noticed the three gifts I just put out and he takes a deep excited inhale and says "Is that for me?" of course I said yes and he said "You did get me a gift!!!"  He seriously thought he wasn't getting a gift because he hadn't come up with any ideas on what he wanted!

My awesome mom volunteered to make his brownies w/ the new pan I got so I wouldn't have to stay up super late.  THANKS SO MUCH mom!! I saw a swell idea circling facebook world shortly after Christmas and went with it.  In the comments of the post, I saw there was an actual pan I could buy and so I did, as I am well aware pinterest/fb ideas rarely work as easily as they appear.

After working 6-6 on Friday I went to Alonza's house and picked him up and then to Will's house to pick him up.  Mom and dad dropped the kids and brownies off at my house and met me there.  It really was simple!  The boys played video games.  I baked 3 pizzas.  They played more video games while I setup the ice cream bar.

The kids each made their brownie sundae

We certainly had to do candles a tad different w/ this type of cake, but we still managed :-)

We did some fun photos

our football team

mustaches

There were more video games but I was work bound for third shift 11pm-8:15am.  Then I went Hardees when I got off to get a birthday breakfast for everyone.  Unfortunately Alonza had to leave at 9, but we were so glad he came!!

Anthony's extra sweet tea and cinnamon raisin biscuits 

I think he was disappointed it was "just" money and not tea in his cup

Will enjoying his breakfast

The boys played at home most of the day.  I got in a few hour nap and a few hours of laziness.  I let Anthony choose anywhere he wanted for supper, I mean anywhere.  This boy picks.....

After eating his Chick Fil A we searched the mall for a wallet he decided he wanted.  At last we saw one and knew it was it!!

Then we headed to Grandma and Poppy's house as Grandma had a little something awaiting the boy as well.

Spoiled: he got a Kindle from Grandma and Poppy.  Then he wanted to go to Grandma Pam's.  Will decided he didn't want to visit anyone else and wanted to go home, so I took him home.  Then I took Anthony to visit Grandma Pam.

He was quite pleased to add this friend to his new wallet.  Since his sleepover buddy chose to leave, Anthony chose to go ahead and spend the night and get some Grandma Pam spoiling!

YES for a matter of fact Iam aware this kid was in the same clothes for over 48 hours.... but guess what, it's a weekend and more importantly it was his birthday so I couldn't care less since we weren't doing much of anything.  Grandma Pam even made Antman rice krispy treats and a cake.  Spoiled by everyone for sure! He seemed very satisfied with his weekend!

Pneamonia

Marko has had a lovely head cold for a bit over a week.  But Monday (2/9) after work he called me to say he was headed to the doctor's.  Hmmm 13 years together, 12 living together, 11 married.... I can count six times to a doctor.

Marko said he was scolded by the Dr for not coming sooner.  He replies "I guess people complain a lot about little things"  The Dr couldn't hear his lungs through his tshirt.  Then couldn't barely hear w/o a shirt.  So he got a breathing treatment.  That didn't work well enough, so he got a second breathing treatment and magically he could breath again!

He went through 10 days of meds.  The next day Tuesday he ended up with an allergic reaction so they had to switch his meds.  By my awesome goof ball still went to work that day.  This household has some crazy work ethic ;-)  When he came home that night his face was all swollen and black and blue.  And because he's a goof, that night he chose to weight lift the kids hahah.

Only Marko would lift 200 pounds for entertainment the day after being dx w/ pneumonia

He slept rockily- hacking a lung up but luckily his very pricy inhaler helped a bundle.  And the fact he has a great job and they allowed him to work from home, as he isn't one to have a sick day/call in.  He worked from home the rest of the week.  Now 2 weeks later almost and he still has a nice cough but energy is returning.

haha caught him taking a cat nap when I came home from work.... It was after 5pm for the record.

Spirit Week Fun

It was spirit week at the kids school.  Outside of where your  school shirt day in Elementary school, I don't ever recall a spirit week so yes this is as fun to me as the kids.  I laughed everyday I picked kids up seeing all the great outfits, face paint and hair dos!  Anthony was less than thrilled but was forced to join in at least minimally.

Monday was simply red white and blue day in their school uniforms so yes they did it but no it wasn't picture worthy as this is their normal attire for school.

Tuesday was decades day.  We dressed for the 80s.  Jayna in Jayna fashion went all out head to toe.  Anthony reluctantly wore a neon shirt.

Wednesday was Pajama or Camo wear day.  Jayna happily wore pjs and brought her doll who was wearing matching pjs. Anthony wore a camo shirt and very unhappily camo pj pants.  He was convinced Mr. Billy had been serious when he said not to wear pjs.... where as I think he was being silly joking with the kids.  Anthony was so totally NOT happy about me forcing him to wear camo bottoms as he was afraid he'd be in trouble.

Thursday was mismatch or sports day.  Anthony wore a Steeler's shirt and again Jayna happily went all out being as mismatched as she could.  But by the time I got a photo, Ant was in his P.E. clothes.

Friday was pink and red day.  Anthony wore a red tshirt--- which he likely wore a hoody or something over and Jayna was decked out in pink and red including red hair spray coloring.

It's so January

I have a new found life--- called a 40 hour job, that thus far I enjoy!!  So it has greatly overstepped into my blogging and free time.  But it has also got me new van tires, heating oil and a newly recovered arm on kid 1, and a ski trip for kid 2.  Yes we live on the wild side.  So here is my small blog of Januaryness.

Jan 1- I brought in the new year old sleeping, because that's what's in style when you are 30 and have work at 5:30am.

Jan 1-5 I still had my amazing beautiful niece Shania for the week.  While I worked she'd go to my mom's with the kids when Marko wasn't home.  Love having her here!!

Jan 3- we added RyLee to our sleepover!  The girls came with me to work.

January 10th Jayna heart her finger at mom and dad's house on one of those jumbo exercise balls--- only my kid ;-)
it was easily a huge highlight for Anthony.  It was D.J. and Logan's nerf birthday party.  Anthoy got $30 for Christmas, he spent $20 of it on the "best" nerf gun he chose after looking at 3 different stores!

January 11th-- THE COWBOYS WERE KICKED OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS!!!

Jan 12th my poor little niece Ziya had quite the seizure, but luckily all checked out well after a 2 day hospital stay.  SO glad you are ok now sweet Ziya!

That evening my 5 year old nephew, sweet Carter seriously broke his arm after falling off his bunk bed.  I love you CJ!

January 14th- the kids were given a snowday from school which matched up with my day off work, so we took advantage of it!  We had lunch at CiCi's Pizza where we spotted my little brother and his friend Corey.

Then we went to the dollar movies and watched Alexander and the horrible, terrible, no good, very bad day.  I always liked that book, and it was a great clean movie!

January 15th I picked the kids up from school early.  Anthony had an ortho appointment where they removed his now 3rd cast and put on a 4th after doing xrays.

Then we went to med express because Jayna's finger was still very swollen and she couldn't bend it still even after 5 days in a finger splint.  It was determined it was just a severe jam and 10 more days she'd be back to normal.

January 22nd- and I'm so bummed I have no photo to share with you.  It was Adventure/Pathfinder Club night.  We learned about Tanzania and cooked a Tanzanian meal-- and the highlight is my group was given the hardest meal dish to prepare--- and it was edible.  This was my first club meeting in 18 mos w/o photos, my apologies in advance, I'm sure you are equally disappointed.

January 26th my sweet nephew C.J. had to have surgery on his broken arm.  Although longer than expected it was a success.

before

after

The arm a few days after surgery
He got a new cast a week after surgery




And this brings January to a close, after covering the highlights!