He has a word!

Okay, okay, so Eli "talks" but doesn't exactly use real words as you all know. He says "sss" for the end of "please" & that is about it other than grunting & jibber. Yesterday i thought i heard him say "shoe" & i turned around (i was driving) & he was pointing to his shoes! He did it twice while we were going to pick up Jackson from preschool but not since.I got so excited though! So hopefully, he will add this to his repretoire. Later that afternoon, when Ms. Marie was here for speech, he started saying a /g/ sound for "go" & signing it at the same time! This one HAS stuck because he has been saying it all day today (and aunt becca is my witness because he did it for her in bible class tonight). So, i am thinking maybe he is starting to pick up some sounds. He has been using a /b/ sound over & over in the car also, but as soon as i engage him & try to get him to play an imitation game with me, he stops & grins at me. I just hope that the sounds he makes, he keeps. With apraxia, they can make sounds one time & not necessarily the next- the repetition is KEY & helps them "program" it into their brains in order to be able to retrieve it the next time. So i will keep encouraging these new words & sounds as much as possible. I would just love to hear "mama" though, & i remember it taking Jackson a long time to make the /m/ sound. (/m,b,p /are usually most kids first sounds- & /k, g/ are usually much older- some of the last sounds, but Eli can make a perfect /k/ sound! He used to babble the /d/ & /m/ sound but not anymore. Can we say "disordered speech" anyone?! Oh, well, it will come! He is just so excited too when he makes sounds & it is obvious that he wants to talk because he is so "verbal", making all kinds of jibber sounds with inflection & gestures. And to be honest, we understand most of it- so he is a great communicator even without words.

My CVS deal this week

Okay, so yes, this is another post & picture about a deal i got. But i know for a fact that there are some of you reading who are interested. So if you aren't, just skip ahead! (I won't know the difference). After the boys were in bed, i made my weekly trip to CVS before all the good deals got gone for the week. I am so excited because i made money off of what is pictured here. I made two transactions that totaled around $83 before CVS sales ($44 in Alavert alone!). After the sale prices, my manufacturer coupons, CVS coupons, & ECBs, i spent 2.17 out of pocket in cash & increased my ECB's by $10. (in other words, i went in with $13 in ECBs to use, spent 2.17 out of pocket, & walked out the door with $23 in ECBs to use next week) The best part of this is that i really bought stuff we can use. We needed hairspray, Randy has terrible allergies & goes through benadryl like water, so the alavert will be gone in no time, i bought 2 shampoo bottles that we will use, & can i just say that i really like this SPA radiant body wash? I am using it right now in the shower & i go through body wash like Randy goes through benadryl (but still, if you need any, give me a buzz!) Oh, & the deodorant will certainly be used because my dear hubby always forgets to tell me when he needs deodorant & ends up using mine (YUCK!) when he runs out (not this time, buddy!).

All is well again....

Jackson is back home! Yippy! All is well in Mommy's world again. (That really rocked her boat, so she is proud of herself for enduring it for 3 days/2nights!) We picked him up this afternoon & while he was happy to see us, he wasn't necessarily ready to go home with us. :o(

In the car, on the way home, i said, "Jackson, i am so proud of you for being so brave & going camping without me & daddy." He said, "I was brave?" Mommy: "yes, you were." Jackson: "I had fun camping..... (little pause) i not need you & daddy... (another pause)... You so proud of me?" Mommy: "Well, yes i am proud of you, but i am sad that you didn't need us!"

Moments later, he was yawning real big (he went full throttle all weekend with no naps!)

Once we got home, he got in some good Daddy time (so cute sitting here together) out on the porch.

But in no time, he was back inside & i guess all the good behavior for 3 days was getting to him because he started doing little things constantly to aggravate Eli. He was putting his feet up in his face, stepping on his toes, & finally i put him in time out on the couch for hitting him from behind. (I have no idea what came over him because he isn't usually like this with Eli). And about 2 minutes after he was on the couch sitting, a storm came through. Jackson has huge fears of thunder so he immediately covered his ears & started whining. Then the funniest thing happened.... he passed out cold- snoring & all in literally about 60 seconds flat! He was so tired from his trip! He seriously slept with his ears covered like this on the couch until we finally ate a late dinner!

We are so glad to have him home though & he had such a fantastic time that we know he will be asking when he can go again. And that depends on whether or not he will "need" us to go too!

Into EVERYTHING!

Eli is literally always into something. As you have seen in a post a few days ago, he loves the pots/pans cabinet in the kitchen. Well, tonight when i was trying to cook dinner, he was at my feet taking every single pot/pan out of this cabinet. And he even crawled ALL THE WAY inside the cabinet to get one that had managed to work its way back in the corner. He is such a mess, but at least he can entertain himself when i need him to! Thank goodness the George Foreman Grill was too heavy for him to move because it was the only thing left that I didn't have to clean back up!

A morning out & about

After we left Farm Day Friday morning, we decided to join Heidi & Nate onto Lake Wheeler to feed the ducks. We decided to feed them from the deck as the ducks & geese get pretty aggressive. They were honking & carrying on & snapping at each other even though they get this food ALL the time from visitors to the park. In other words, i could understand all this fighting if you were a starved animal, but my word, they were pure gluttonous! But the boys loved it (and of course they (eli) were eating the dry cereal just as fast as they were throwing it to the birds!).

As we were feeding the ducks, a man came over & asked if the boys wanted to see the fish he caught. Of course they did, & eli even touched him several times (his eyeball once -YUCK)- but again, Jackson just preferred to be a bystander & watch (with his hands in his pockets!)

Then we took a few minutes to go play on the playground before meeting up with Mema, Grandad, Tyler, & cousin Becca for lunch. It was a great day & when we finally got home, Eli slept for almost 4 hours! Poor Jackson only got about an hour or so because Uncle Jeremy came to get him to go camping.

Farm Day 2008

Yesterday, we (me & the boys) headed out to Farm Day 2008 with our friends, Heidi & Nate. It was a great opportunity for the boys to get to pet farm animals, see tractors on display, etc. Eli literally wanted to touch every animal he could (& even most of those he couldn't!) but Jackson was a little more reserved & wasn't too sure about touching all these animals. But in the end, he finally touched a bunny as we were leaving (& was very proud of himself).

The first stop was the baby chicks, which Eli went right for....

Then we checked out the turkeys (they had bales of hay around the pens so that the little kids could step up & see) Next was the goat kids, which Eli was enthralled with & he stayed here for a good little bit. Jackson however would look, but not touch! They were so surprisingly soft too, like a puppy!

We got to check out the horses & their colts, cows & their calves, as well as pigs & piglets, but no pictures were captured! But on the way out the door, we saw these bunnies & neither boy could resist them. They are awfully cute & soft!
Yeah! I touched it!!

More Organization....

I must be channeling my energy into organizing today because once i finished the scrapbooking ribbon, i moved on into the kitchen! My spice cabinet has been driving me nuts for a while now & so i decided since i was one kid down today & the other likes to be a helper, i would put him to work. Plus Daddy was outside working in the yard, leaving me to my domain with no interruptions. As you can see, my cabinet was a mess...

And i have had this spice rack for the entire length of my marriage,

But once i got to work, i realized that i only had opened 4 of the jars!

So i literally cleaned out the remaining 12, peeled off the original labels, washed & dried them.....

And filled them back up with 12 of the other spices in my cabinet that i use often. (Of course, i made a new label, too!)

Isn't my cabinet much nicer now? You should see all the containers i trashed! Eli had a blast rummaging in all this too, so it was a success all around!

For All My Scrapbooking Girls...

Okay, so to those of you who love to scrapbook like me, i am sure your ribbon/fiber "box" or whatever is a total modge-podge of mixed up, unorganized, tattered ribbon spools, etc, right?? Well, last night when i was at Archivers for a scrapMANIA (i am a total scrapMANIAC, no comment, Daniel!) i picked up these nifty little things, thinking it can't hurt for .99c to try them. Well, after sitting down this morning and transforming my cluttered box into a much smaller neat box, i am hooked! This is how it went:

My box was filled with these before:

I got one pkg of 10 ribbon cards (for .99c) & 1 pkg of 25 ribbon holders (for another .99c).

And now my ribbons look like this:

My clear shoe box looks like this (for now) until i can go get about 20 more to complete the job:

But, then i can downsize my box into a much smaller box & feel much more organized( & to those of you who really know me, this is a weight lifted off my shoulders because i HATE the feeling of disorganization & clutter- i just can't work like that!) So for $1.98 total- this was one steal of a deal & a great overhaul of my ribbon box! And the best part is that i did it all in under 30 minutes (including taking the pictures, blogging it, & cleaning it up!) Go get 'em, girls!

I'm lonely

So tonight is an official milestone for Jackson. He is is out camping with Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Marie, & Kaleb. I can't believe he actually went! And my heart is actually hurting with him being gone. He has never spent the night anywhere without one of us & i am not certain i will sleep well tonight knowing he isn't in the house. Although i know he is in good hands (& having a blast), i just would rather have him under my wing! He hopped right up in the truck though with Uncle Jeremy when he & Kaleb came to get him & waved a big wave & gave me a humungous hug, but i am not certain it was enough to last me until Monday. We have already discussed going to pick him up (an hour away) before Monday, because we just aren't certain WE can handle this. But pray for sweet dreams for Jackson tonight because i would rather him have a blast & not miss us one bit than to be miserable & long for home. I can remember that feeling & i wouldn't wish it on my little man.

**this morning came with an update at 8:00am! Jackson called to say he slept well & was having a fun time. Whew!! I am so thankful he made it through like a big boy! But still, do you think I will make it to Monday?! I don't think so! I miss him terribly!**

Outraged!!

Something has GOT to give! I just paid $3.45 per gallon of gas! How absurd! It took $65.08 to fill up the ole jeep & that will last 4 days, 5 tops! I have found that every time i go to get gas these days (which as you can tell is pretty often) i get in the worst mood before i leave! I actually passed a station this morning that was $3.57 a gallon & i almost choked as i drove past. If these gas prices do indeed go up to $4.00 a gallon, i will have to start walking. I guess i will stay home more because it sure would take me a long time to get anywhere since i live out in the sticks!

Oh, & to top it off, not only did i pay an enormous price for this gasoline, but the station was too cheap to make sure i got a receipt- which just put me in a deeper state of disgust.