Snowy Day in South Carolina.

Today is our first snowy day in South Carolina! Here is a picture of our back yard and the house. It looks so pretty!

A lonely little dove.

Here are some pictures of the boys playing in our little bit of snow. Hey - it was enough to cancel school!

SNOW DAY!!!

Today Jacob is experiencing his very first snow day from school. We got a recorded call at 5:45 this morning announcing that school was closed. Both boys slept in today too. Brady woke up at 6:05am and Jacob slept until 6:40! We are off to a good start. There is just a dusting of snow on the ground but we are expected to have snow on and off all day today. Tod's boss called last night and advised him to bring an overnight bag because they may be staying in a hotel downtown tonight because of the weather. Jacob keeps looking out the window waiting for more snow to come. We are all hoping for more snow!

Steal Magnolias

I have always said that no one cries alone in my presents and if there is an emergency...don't call me. I have never been good in a bad situation. Today I was tested. The boys and I were in the waiting room for Jacob's ENT appointment (he is fine BTW) watching the television. A nurse ran through the door and changed the channel to the news and she was followed by a Mom and her two kids who were about 5 and 6 years old. The Breaking News ran across the TV saying there had been a USAirways plane crash from New York to Charlotte. The woman was frozen. The older brother started to cry and yelled, "Does this mean Daddy is dead? Is Daddy dead?" My boys were in shock and glued themselves to their seats. The nurse and I were right there. The Mom just melted into the carpet in great sobs. The daughter cried and the son continued hysterically yelling, "Daddy's dead!" I couldn't say anything. The Mom reached out and she grabbed my hand. I pulled her son in and we just sat there on the floor of the waiting room. I traded a sorrow filled glance with the nurse, but there was really nothing we could do. Then suddenly the Mom's cell phone rang. She said, "Hello? Is that really you?" It was her husband. He was OK. The two kids and their Mom just sat there and told him that they loved him and that they were so happy that he is safe. I gave her a smile and sat back down with the boys. I looked up and saw three men in tears. Not hiding it. Just crying into their hands at what they just saw.

It was amazing to see such devastation and elation. I was so surprised at myself. I actually held it together. Well, until I got in the car. I lost it and cried all the way home. I can still hear that little boys voice. It is haunting. I am going to squeeze Tod a little harder tonight.

Ladies of the Y

Everyday (well, most days!) after taking Jacob to school, Brady and I venture to the Y. We are always one of the first ones checking into Child Watch. There are three grandmotherly ladies that work in the mornings. All these ladies want to do is cuddle and snuggle with the little ones. When babies come in they scramble to the front to hold and rock them. Today while dropping Brady off at Child Watch there was a collective..."BRADY'S HERE!" All three ladies were so happy to see him. Brady jumped up and said, "YAY!"

After my workout I went to pick him up and he wasn't there. Panic! The ladies told me that they sent him to Wee Fit because he said he wanted to go. Which is a program for 3-5 year olds to teach them some exercises. I was a little stunned that they sent him without me knowing, but I knew he was in good hands and they were already walking back from class. One of the ladies pulled me aside and said, "Now you know...Brady is our favorite. He sings for us. He dances for us. He plays nicely. And we missed him today so this might be his last time going to Wee Fit!" She laughed. I was touched to see that they seemed to truly care for him and the rest of the kids in the Child Watch.

When we left there was a collective, "Bye Bye Brady!" Brady said, "Bye!" I said, "Thank you!"

WHAT?

Before the holidays Tod and I were getting a little frustrated with Jacob. Whenever we would ask him to do something he wouldn't do it or he would give us a look and say, "what?" We decided that he had a case of the "6 Year Olds" or just not paying attention.

Last Thursday I took him in for his 6 year old well visit and he failed the hearing test. Hmmm. My dear friend Katie Peter pulled some strings and waved her magic wand and got us an appointment with the Charlotte ENT Audiologist yesterday. Once again he failed the extensive hearing test. Dr Rainey said that she believes it is fluid in the ears, but wants us to see the ENT so they can look in his ears and give us a diagnosis. We go on Thursday.

I feel like such a bad Mommy! Now that I know he has had some hearing loss over the last few weeks I can see all of the warning signs and red flags that have been right in front of my face. He truly hasn't heard me when I've been talking to him. I just thought he was distracted or was just ignoring me. Yikes!

I wrote his teacher today and told her what was going on. She responded with "So that's what has been going on with him!" She also noticed him behaving differently and seated him closer to her so he can pay attention and hear her instructions. Mrs. Carroll is wonderful and is committed to helping him until we figure out what is going on.

I'll post an update later this week after we see the ENT. Wish us luck!

Blog Blog Blog

I've neglected my blog! I decided to make this entry my "random" entry. Lots of little things.

I took Jacob snow tubing after Christmas. We went up to Jonas Ridge. We had great conversations on the way up there. I don't get a lot of one on one time with him these days. After watching the brief safety movie we set out for our first ever tubing experience. We hooked up to the tube lift then waited our turn to zip down the mountain. We were able to tie our tubes together for the trip down the hill. It was really fast! After the second run Jacob decided he had enough of tubing. I finally figured out that he was a little scared of the lift. So....I had to carry both tubes up the hill. It was exhausting. We tubed for about an hour and a half. Lots of fun.

Yesterday was super windy. After dropping Brady off at school, I get home to find our recycling all over the place. I'm all sweaty from going to the Y and a little embarrassed to be seen by my neighbors. Well, I had to suck it up and clean up the neighborhood. Our newspapers were flying through the air and beer cans were clanging down the street. After rustling up all of our recycling, I casually looked around to make sure no one saw me. I didn't hear any laughter, but you never know.

Also, we had the top of one of our really tall trees snap off late yesterday afternoon. The boys and I were playing a game at the kitchen table. We heard a loud CRACK followed by an even louder BOOM! We ran out to the deck to see the damage. The top just snapped off and it came withing 3 feet of the house. No damage to our house, retaining wall, or landscaping. Just lots of firewood to chop!!

I will try not to neglect the blog anymore!

It's Really Over?

I can't believe the holidays are really over. We have had such a fun Christmas and New Year. I just can't believe it is over!


The Monday before Christmas Tod's Mom, Dad and brother came. Then on Christmas Eve my Mom, Dad, and Grandmother arrived. And on Christmas Day my sister and brother-in-law came. We had a full house! But it was loads of fun. The boys loved being the center of attention through the entire week. It was like we had a continuous Christmas.


Tod's brother, Sean, built us a BEAUTIFUL dining room table. He is so amazingly talented. You can see all of his work at ww.odonnellwoodworking.com. We couldn't be happier with the table. It is perfect.


Speaking of talent...Tod's mother painted us an incredible picture for our kitchen. She took a picture of the woods behind our house then painted this...


Just amazing! Every day I'm still in awe of this picture!

The O'Donnell clan left on Christmas Day and we had a "shift change". The Johnson clan (my family) spent the rest of the week together. One of our traditions over Christmas is my Mother makes Gumbo. It is so delicious! We didn't have many leftovers!!

We played countless games of Apples to Apples, Mexican Train Dominoes, and Darts. Who knew my Dad was such a good dart player!?? We shared lots of laughs and enjoyed each others company.

We spent New Year's Eve at a neighbors house. The boys were with my parents so we had no worries. I am so happy that we found the perfect neighborhood for us. Lots of fun families.

2008 brought us many new challenges, and moved us to a new place. I'm not sure if we are ready to find out what 2009 has in store for us. At least I will have the holidays to look forward to!