Our Funday Sunday!

It's official. Our house is on the market!

Hopefully this will be a fast process, but I know I am probably having wishful thinking since it is a buyers market. When we first decided to put our house on the market I was so ready to sell, but then as I started to clean, organize, and de-clutter I had my moments when I liked our house again. This is our home...our first home....our home we brought our newborn children to....there are times when I love calling this home, but reality is, we're growing and our house isn't.

Since it is officially on the market (actually Monday) and I am finished doing things on the inside, I spent all day having fun with the boys!

We spent part of our morning outside -

Why does Rigley let them do whatever to him?! It's raining mulch on Rigley....

Reason #101 of reasons why having young children and your house on the market isn't easy - They think throwing mulch all over the sidewalk and then at the plant is fun!

(For the record: I let them have their fun and cleaned it up after the fact. I will still let my children be children and bite my OCD tongue!)

We then went inside, I walked out back to water the new grass Aaron laid where the playground area was (yes, my husband is a sprinkler man, and yes we have a sprinkler system, however...he is on call with the railroad, got called to go out of town, and didn't have time to adjust the sprinkler heads before he left. So this means I had to step up to the plate and use the water hose.) Anyways, back to my point - as I walked on our back porch, what did I happen to see!? One lovely little snake sitting on the back porch. Normally I would run inside and make no attempt to kill him, but for some crazy reason I decided to be Super Mom, Super Wife, and Super Dog Protector.

After convincing myself that throwing my flip flop on it probably wouldn't kill it, I ran inside, locked the door so the boys couldn't go out, ran to the garage, looked at my options, decided on a shovel, grabbed the shovel ran through the house, yelled at Jackson "DO NOT open this door even though Mommy is on the back porch. You, Garrett, and Rigley stay inside!" and ran outside to let the battle begin.

The snake was in the same spot, appeared to be calm, which led me to believe he would be an easy kill. I hit him with the shovel and that sucker QUICKLY went under the grill. I gave him a second to think I was gone (and to give my heart a break from jumping out of my chest) then I moved the grill. There he was in the corner, I hit the corner over and over hoping the see a snake cut into a million pieces, however he got away and I couldn't find him anywhere. Okay....so maybe I didn't look for him very hard at that point....but I didn't know WHERE he was, which was enough for me to throw the shovel down, run inside and lock the door.

Later when Aaron called home from work, I was proud to tell him my attempt to kill the snake. "Kelli!? Why didn't you grab the hoe?! Aaron! I picked the shovel over my flip flop...can I have some credit?!"

My parents came over this afternoon to see the boys (and me of course!) and we decided to take the boys to a park in Forney. This is the same park Aaron and I took them on the night we didn't get to go to the circus, but today we let them do the water area and they loved it!!! I can't wait to go back once school starts and it is only younger kids there.

I have to share something I thought was sweet that my Mom heard: Jackson and another boy that was a little older than him were playing together at the water gun thing shown below. The boy told Jackson to "squirt that kid." That "kid" just so happened to be Garrett. Jackson didn't listen to his new friend and decided to protect his brother instead.

However - in our own backyard, Garrett better be prepared because Jackson will soak him! That brotherly love isn't always so strong at home!

In the picture below, Garrett is leaning down and calling this little girl "baby."

Night at the Circus - It was a good IDEA anyway....

Thanks to my sister, we had free tickets to the circus. She got them from one of her "connections" that works at the American Airline Center. We could go any night, we just had to give the box office these passes in while they exchange them for the best seats available!

Aaron is back on call with work, so Thursday morning we decided if he wasn't called out we would go to the circus! Since we have never taken the boys to the circus, we really prepared that by showing them videos of the circus on the computer. We wanted them to be excited....and we were successful in doing this!

Knowing the earlier we got to the AAC, the better our seats would be, we had a quick dinner at Wild About Harrys. We thought a yummy hot dog would put us in the circus mood!

Jackson and Garrett's meal came with an ice cream, so they quickly enjoyed their ice cream before we rushed them out the door. We had FREE tickets and I wanted the BEST seats! Maybe we could get front row! It's was Thursday night. Surely it wouldn't be crowded, but I am not a risk taker and wanted to get there early.

As we are driving around looking for the a parking lot, I saw a sign which read "Tonight's Event Sold Out." Yep....that event that we got the boys so pumped up about was sold out. We couldn't trade in our passes for tickets if there weren't any tickets available. Never did we think the circus would sell out on Thursday night or we could have exchanged them earlier in the day.

We were so disappointed. Garrett could have cared less, but when we told Jackson we couldn't go he said "Yessssss we can too go.....Ugh huh!" At that point, Aaron and I were just trying to think of where we could take them that would be fun. At that point, we would have suggested the zoo if we weren't loosing daylight. We couldn't even go out for dessert since they just had ice cream.....remember, the ice cream we rushed them through?! Every idea we had, Jackson said no to, but we finally got a smile when we suggested going to a playground.

They both had a blast at the playground and forgot about the circus....but Mommy and Daddy were sure upset!

Garrett was sliding down the wall you're supposed to climb up and he thought he was the funniest kid ever.

My Son Thinks I'm Asian.

The boys have these little wood people that came with their train set.

There are firefighters, police officers,

construction workers...

mail carriers....

and so on....

Garrett came to me today holding one of these wooden people saying "Mommy! Mommy!" I assumed he was just excited about something. Maybe he stole it from Jackson, or maybe he was just acting excited because he found a "gift" for me.

Me: "What did you find? Is it a fireman or mailman?"

Garrett: "Mommy! Mommy!"

Me: (sit Garrett in my lap thinking he wants Mommy) "What is it baby?"

Garrett: "Mommy! Mommy!"

Me: Confused, but take a closer look at the wood person....

Yep, my son thinks I'm Asian.

As soon as I said "Is that Mommy?" he smiled, got up, and walked away doing his happy walk.

Think Smart, Save Half

Jackson's dresser was scheduled to be delivered today between 1:00-3:00. I still had not picked up his curtains, so knowing that I would want to go to bed tonight with his room 100% complete (which it isn't...) I decided to run to PBK this morning.

I found the curtains I wanted, but they only had one panel in the size I needed. I decided to go ahead and buy the one panel and I would order the other panel online. In the meantime this drove me nuts thinking about the fact that his dresser was finally being delivered, but now I would have to look at ONE curtain panel until the other one came in.

I get home and hang up the curtain (Curtain...as in singular). As I was hanging it up, I was telling Aaron that I think it's dumb that curtains come with just one panel. For Jackson's curtains, I want them to hang straight down on each side of the window....no tie back things. However, this darn curtain wouldn't stay where I wanted it. It was to wide and wouldn't stay gathered together like I wanted it to. At that point I told Aaron maybe we would have to use tie backs.....

But then, I got one of my bright ideas! You know....my bright ideas that Aaron tells me "no" which only motivates me to do it more?! (It always reminds me of when I was trying to teach my 13 year old dog Barney how to shake and he told me "Kelli, you can't teach an old dog new tricks." That was all I needed and Barney was shaking the next day! One day he will learn to use reverse psychologically on me to his benefit.) I decided I would cut the curtain in half length wise and hem the edges. Look at all the benefits - TWO panels, not as wide, and save $49, (or if you're pessimistic, risk throwing $49 down the drain), and no waiting for the 2nd panel to arrive.

I got to work -

Aaron joked, laughed, and went on and on when I was having issues with the bobbin. He loved it.

Jackson now has TWO curtain panels for the price of one! (Ignore the rod, I'm getting another one)

Jackson now has a new dresser....

Jackson is now a happy boy....

a happy boy that doesn't like the flash on his Mommy's camera....

We have the results....We have answers...

Aaron finally received all the results from his MRI and Nerve Study. He has Carpal Tunnel which makes perfect sense.

Some key points from Webmd.com that I found interesting because it explains Aaron perfectly -

What is Carpal Tunnel?
Carpal tunnel syndrome is pain, tingling, and other problems in your hand because of pressure on the median nerve in your wrist.

What causes carpal tunnel syndrome?
Pressure on the median nerve causes carpal tunnel syndrome. This pressure can come from swelling or anything that makes the carpal tunnel smaller.

I know carpal tunnel doesn't cause swelling, however Aaron does have swelling in his fingers. In fact, he no longer can wear his wedding ring. His ring is a 9 and he now needs a 10.5 - that's a big difference considering he is still the same weight as he was when we got married.

Things that can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome include:
(one that I feel relates to Aaron....think about Aaron working on sprinklers)
Making the same hand movements over and over, especially if the wrist is bent down (your hands lower than your wrists), or making the same wrist movements over and over.

What are the symptoms?
Carpal tunnel syndrome can cause tingling, numbness, weakness, or pain in the fingers or hand. Some people may have pain in their arm between their hand and their elbow.

Aaron was sent home with 2 handsome wrist arm splints. The doctor said it would be great if he could wear them 24 hours a day, but knowing that won't happen....he said he must sleep in them. The more he wears them, the more they will help. He also prescribed him an anti-inflammatory to relieve pain.

Surgery is another option if Aaron ever decides to go down that route. Surgery is recommended when symptoms are so bad you cannot work, so he may decide on the surgery sooner rather than later. However.....I am really.....really.....really....hoping they may consider doing one hand at a time. I already have 2 boys in the house I have to take "personal" care of if you get what I am saying.

I am just glad we have an answer. After we heard from his Uncle that the MRI was normal, we were extremely happy, but still questioned what in the world was going on. Our fear was that the nerve study would show nothing was wrong as well, when we knew there was something. I know it sounds weird to hope the test shows something, but when you know there is something going on, it is nice to have confirmation of what it is.

The Swings Swung...a little too high....

Saturday morning, the boys and I went to Canton with my mom while Aaron was working on a sprinkler installation near my parent's house. We had a great time at Canton, hung out at my parent's house, then when Aaron was finished working for the day, we all headed home. It was around 5:00, so we thought it would be a good night to go to the hospital to visit Shelly and Brooks.

On the drive home the weather was bad so I began to think that I should stay home with the boys while Aaron's goes to the hospital alone. When we got home, Aaron jumped in the shower, I opened up all the blinds, the boys and I noticed the swings blowing like crazy, and I checked the weather online in our office. Right as I see online that Kaufman is getting hammered, I hear Aaron yell " (insert bad word here) The swing set is gone!!" I immediately laugh because #1: How in the world could our swing set be GONE? #2: I JUST saw it less than 30 seconds ago.

I run into the living room and see Aaron throwing on his rain suit. I look out the back window and see the swing set flipped over on its side, pieces broken off, wood everywhere, and laying in the back part of our backyard near the back fence. Aaron runs outside, I yell at his brother Michael who was in the other shower (he helped with the sprinkler installation), Michael runs outside, and the boys and I just sit and stare out the back window.

I wanted to cry. Jackson got that for his 2nd birthday....he will be 3 on September 27th. We only had it for a little over 10 months. That's what the boys play on when we go outside. That's what they love.

When it storms and winds are strong, I always worried about the tarp ripping. Never did I think the whole darn thing would blow away. We feel like the tarp is actually what helped it to be pulled off the ground. The bad thing is their Little Tikes picnic table didn't even move.

The swing set DOES have a warranty, but not for "An Act of God." I called this morning to see if it would be covered under our homeowners insurance. It is covered, but with our deductible it's not worth it.

Our goal has been to put our house on the market at the end of the week, but now Aaron has another project to take care of. We are going to have to pull up the area we had for the swing set and lay a pallet of grass. Even though it makes me sad, everything happens for a reason. Maybe looking out the back window and seeing the land will be more appealing to a buyer than seeing the swing set.....maybe our kids were getting a little too brave and we were about to deal with broken bones.....or maybe this was our sign to stay off of the road that night...who knows.

Here are some pictures of after Aaron and Michael moved it closer to our house. It could have been A LOT worse....it could have landed on our roof, went through a window, landed on Aaron's truck....etc. So, we were lucky if you can call this luck....