This is what happens when CODY doesn't take a nap!

Cody refused to take a nap for pushover Memaw and this is what happened when he was finished eating dinner tonight!

Also, Cody is eating with a spoon! Woohooo! He is still working on accuracy but 70% ends up in his mouth. I am so proud of my little guy. He seems to be making steady progress every day. I can see maturity in all areas. I cannot believe he will be 5 years old in a few months!!

Candids from last night!

They are so creative! Carleigh decided to put Cody's skates on and go skating on the carpet. She does a really great job! Cody likes to put his toddler chair on top of the sofa and sit. Silly boy!

Trains and sibling bickerings

Lately, Carleigh has become obsessed with trains! She plays with a train set at school. This weekend, I found a train set that someone gave us and set it up and she was engrossed. In fact, she didn't want to go to bed Saturday night because she still wanted to "play with the train Mommy!" Yesterday, it was quite a fight to get her to take a nap because the train set was in her room and every minute or so she would pop up and look at it. My guess was that she was afraid it would disappear?

Cody and Carleigh are becoming the typical siblings. This past weekend, Cody said to Carleigh "Shut up!" to which Carleigh replied, "I don't want to shut up Cody!" Of course now I am trying to get them NOT to use the words "shut up" and instead use "Be quiet!"

OSU Game

Our friends Shannon and Niki came over to watch the Ohio State game. It was a blowout as always and of course OSU won! Go Buckeyes! We had pizza and I made cupcakes to celebrate Shannon and my birthday as our birthdays are a week apart and I am one week older!! Shannon is my friend from high school. She is really the only friend that I still talk to from school. The kids has a blast playing with them and they took a nap so we could watch the game, but mostly chatted.

Silly Feet

Cody put on Niki's shoes and started walking around in them during the game. Of course, Carleigh has to follow suit and put on Shannon's!!

Costumes

I have decided this year to make Cody and Carleigh's Halloween costumes. I found a really easy idea from a family magazine for Carleigh. She will be a pink poodle. It's really simple and much cheaper than buying a costume. Cody will either be a football player, scarecrow, or cowboy. I am trying to be more frugal and since Halloween is so close to Christmas, I can help the Christmas budget by making the costumes at a fraction of the price.

Also, I can hardly rationalize spending $60 on costumes that they will only wear one night. I always have to pick the costumes carefully as Cody will not tolerate a hood or hat or any kind of mask on his face. The only thing I can do is use face paint on the little guy. Too much stuff on the costume gets his sensory issues out of wack.

I am excited about doing this and it will get my creative juices flowing. With creating their costumes and working on their new bedroom layout and decorations, I am getting more motivated to change areas in our house.

Biggest Loser & Perfection

*Warning: This is a MOMMY post, no kids mentioned!*

I am a BIG fan of Biggest Loser, in fact, I have debated on applying for it. I would be on the edge of qualifying. I would love to join it with another special lady or two (who reads this blog and I am not going to reveal her name!). Maybe one of these days I will apply. Who knows???

It is amazing how much weight the men and women lose on that show and how they are changing their lives around. If I could just get some of the cooking training, I would be set! I really do need to lose at least 60 lbs and this could really improve my life: I could go off blood pressure pills and could help my thyroid levels as well. I have hypothryoidism as well as hhelping PCOS get under control (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) which causes my infertility. Boy, am I an unhealthy person or what???!! It is depressing being on certain meds at age 32!

I am not trying to create perfection because honestly, no one could have the perfect body. I just want to get healthy and eliminate taking so many meds. I also want to have more energy that I need to chase two very active preschoolers! So, yes, I am going public with my need to lose weight. Now I just have to crack open my Weight Watchers guides and get started!!

Speaking of perfection, I always try to be as perfect as possible: at work, when working on my Master's Degree, and throughout other areas. It has brought MAJOR stress into my life. (For example, I would get physically sick to my stomach until I received every grade while working in my Master's program. And yes, I received an A+ on everything being the Summa Cum Laude girl that I am.) However, I have really been studying it and thinking about perfection in the Bible. As I tell my students in class, "Although we try to be perfect, no one is. The Lord is the only one who is perfect. We can try to be perfect, but we will always fall short." I have been trying to follow my own advice and it has eased a lot of stress in my life. Everything does not have to be perfect. As long as my family, friends, and I are happy, that is all that matters. Why sweat over the small things??!!

Normally I discuss things like that on my Xanga blog, but I felt that I need to blog on more than just Cody and Carleigh and talk about me sometimes.

A few funnies

Carleigh was sent to the naughty chair (time out) for hitting Cody. She was whining and crying to which I said "Hush it up!" and shook my finger at her. To which Cody goes up to her, shakes his finger and says "Hush it up!" Matt and I about died of laughter!

We went to Target Saturday night and visited the Halloween section. I pushed Carleigh in the cart and we strolled over to a life-size skeleton dressed in a tuxedo. When you pressed the button, it came to life, eyes flashing and spoke in an eerie voice. You should have seen the look of absolute terror in Carleigh's face! Her whole head and shoulders shook, her eyes got big and she had this scream on her mouth. (You know when Jamie Lee Curtis screams in "Halloween I.") We then had to quickly leave that area and Carleigh says "That was so SCARY!" Too cute!! Methinks I have a little scaredy cat in my house! Of course Cody looked at it and didn't respond. He is too old and too cool to be scared of a skeleton!

Cody's School Project

Cody had a family project to do that is due next week. He brought home a cutout of a boy and he and I had to decorate it. Next week, they will share their person during circle time. We had a lot of fun making it and of course I had to do all the cutting and pasting. Cody helped color and put the stickers in place. Carleigh was jealous and kept saying "It's Carleigh's turn!"

We have FOOD!

That sounds so silly, but now we have food in our refrigerator!! Woohoo! It is not as full as it was, but some of it should've been tossed anyway. We had a lot of non-perishable food that we didn't have to toss out, but how could you fix it without your microwave or electric stove???

Tonight the kids are watching a movie and enjoying the electricity. My mom took them to her house for half the day and Cody was glued to Noggin which we do not get with expanded basic cable. I have been debating on getting satelite for some time now. It would be cheaper than what we are paying for cable anyway plus we would get 100 more channels. We are probably going to get it next month and maybe get an extra NFL channel for Matt which would REALLY make his day!

We plan on going out to dinner with Matt's family tomorrow to celebrate my birthday which was on Monday. Another year older although I am really not bothered by getting older. It's just a number right? Of course when I hit 40 in 8 years, my outlook may change!! He He He and Matt will be hitting 4-0 next April!!!

Back to Normal!

Everyone went back to work or school today! My school almost closed because as of after 9pm last night, the elementary did not have power. They decided to wait until 5am to make the call. Some big prayers must have happened overnight because the power was back on in the morning and we had school. I felt so sorry for 3 teachers who still did not have power and had to come into work. There were 2 of my students who still did not have power. Some of my students did not lose any power or the power was quickly restored. It is so weird and strange to hear of all the different accounts of the blackout. Of course I let the class share one story each and after that, things calmed down and it was school business as usual.

Cody and Carleigh went to preschool and it was their only day this week because preschool is Monday - Thursday. Cody came home with "homework" to do this weekend. Cody and I are going to do this together on Saturday and I will post a pic of us doing the work together and the finished product.

It felt good to take a hot shower this morning and dry my hair with a dryer. My hair never felt so clean and straight! (I haven't used a dryer since Sunday morning!) I also arrived at work 10 minutes early and set to working on my classroom. Ahhhh....life is good!

Damage from Windstorm

This damage to our big tree in the front yard was due to the winds from Hurricane Ike. This is just 1/5 of our tree. We are thankful that it wasn't the entire tree or our house might have been demolished. It snapped the telephone wire and knocked the cable line from its spot on the house.

We have LIGHT!

We are rejoicing here in our home! The lights came on at 2:04pm! I shouted and I bet my neighbors could hear me, but I don't care! I am already tackling Mt. Laundry! It is amazing how my attitude has changed now that I can clean and tackle laundry. I am looking forward to working tomorrow and the kids may have one day of preschool this week.

Praise the Lord!! I am so glad to have some good news for Matt when he gets home. He called at lunch time and I gave him all the gloom and doom. We were all so cranky and it will fill good to have a hot shower and to buy milk and the bare necessities!

Absolutely unreal!

Yep, it is noon on day 4 of the Big Blackout and we still do not have power. At this point, it is ridiculous! Everyone I know has their power except for our neighborhood which includes my parent's home. We are starting to get into survival mode here. Wondering what we will do for each meal. If the power doesn't come on soon, we will have to go to a laundrymat and I absolutely DETEST them with a passion!

I would rather be teaching and enjoying electricty than to stay at home with two very bored preschoolers. Our refrigerator feels like an oven. No coolness.

We are beyond upset and livid at this point. We have seen a dozen Duke Energy trucks here and haven't seen any fruits of their labor. What is going on? Dare I even hope we will have power today? I think a root canal without novacaine would be less painful!

Grilling Out

It was a joint effort to get all the food needed and prepared Sunday night! My sister, Sherry (a friend), Sherry's children, my mom and dad, Connie's family, and my family all feasted on hot food.

Blackout Picnic

More reunion photos

The second shot is my dad with all his brothers and one sister. He has eight sisters and all were there but one aunt who is currently in Italy right now.

Left to right: Uncle Floyd, Uncle Tom, Aunt Mildred, my dad, Uncle Dan, and Uncle Gibby crouching in front.

Update to Blackout

We still do not have power. I am getting cranky and so are the kids. Blogger is not allowing me to upload anymore photos right now. I have no idea what is going on with it. It may be due to low battery on my laptop. I guess I will have to recharge it while the kiddos are napping.

I have a very clean refrigerator with just a bag of ice that my mom brought this morning. No doubt that it will melt by the evening.

It is so frustrating to be without power when you know others who have it. Grrrrr! the kids are getting bored at times and so am I. Eating pbj sandwiches are getting old and it looks like we will have to eat out again tonight.

School was closed again today. It is rumored that the power may not go back on until the weekend! I am praying it comes soon.

School is already closed tomorrow for my two kiddos as the bus cannot get gasoline due to lack of electricity as well as having no decent food to feed the children. Some schools still do not have power. I haven't heard from my school yet. This is absolutely crazy!

Mom and Carleigh at the Reunion

Photobucket Album

Hibbard Family Reunion

We traveled to Manchester, KY for my dad's annual family reunion. My grandparents died about 13 years ago, so my dad and his 12 other siblings have a reunion to reconnect. There are over 50 grandchildren and 40 great-grandchildren. It was held at Big Creek Elementary School. We ate, had a cornhole competition, and the kids played on the playground. It was VERY hot down there!

After the reunion, we checked into our hotel and went swimming. We had the entire pool to ourselves. The temperature was perfect and the kids had a blast. Carleigh has mastered how to go underwater and hold her nose!

We ordered in pizza and played cards after swimming. We arrived home around 12:30pm on Sunday right when the Ike winds started occurring.

Cody's Boo-boo

Cody was getting off the bed at the hotel room when he made contact with the pointy edge of the nightstand. It scared my mom and I! He was bleeding strongly and Matt and my dad went to a store to pick up a few things for us. The bleeding slowed down but it was swollen a bit. It took a while for him to calm down.

Playing on the school playground

Still no power!

Alas, it is almost 8pm and we still do not have power here. Less than a mile away in another city, they have power. So how did I spend my birthday you ask? Bored out of my mind! I was glad to have the day off from teaching, however, without electricity, I could not do anything productive like laundry, dishes, cleaning. The kids entertained themselves well which goes to show that they do not need television or anything electronic to keep them entertained.

This is how yesterday went:

We arrive home from our weekend trip to winds increasing in speed. Then, my mom and I head out to find a store that has electricity. Kmart did so I bought some needed items. When we journey home, a tree had fallen in the middle of the road and we have to swerve into the other part of the lane. Then, Matt told us that we had no power. He didn't get to watch the Bengals game that he loves so much!

We watched the winds that were 70 mph break 1/3 of the branches on our front tree. These branches snapped our telephone lines and cable line. So, no power, telephone or cable. I quickly get on my battery laptop and get the telephone company to come out ASAP.

Then my sister and friends and I decide to have a grill out since we had no other dinner options.

Afterwards, it was bath by candlelight for the kids...another exciting and fun time for Matt and I. We listened to the radio while I shined the flashlight and we made shadow animals. Carleigh thought it was scary. It has really tramatized her with the winds and trees falling. She said "It's scary! The tree fell!" "It broke."

We slept with the windows open and had a great cool breeze. Matt had to go into work so we were up around 6am and the kids were awake shortly after.

My mom found a McDonalds and brought the kids and I breakfast. Lunch was not the best and we ate at fast food for dinner. Krogers was a mob scene and they ran out of ice 2 minutes before I bought some. Grrrrr! I did get a cookie cake to celebrate my 32nd birthday. We still do not have power and schools are closed for Tuesday as well.

I will post weekend pictures when the power comes back on!

Winds from Hurricane Ike

We are home from Kentucky however, an hour after coming home, the winds hit BAD! We do not have electricity, cable, or telephone as the tree in our front yard fell and landed on the wires. Trees and wires down all over. No one has power and my sister has a grill and we are all grilling out for dinner.

The winds are so strong that it snapped trees, took our lawn furniture up the street and the kids' water table was flown to the other side of the house. The kids' playhouse was picked up and flipped and turned.

Aye ye yaye!!!

I have lots of pictures to upload but my laptop computer battery is getting low so I will be losing power soon.

I will post more later!!

Hurricane Ike and Gas Hike

I didn't think that Hurrican Ike would affect us in any way, WELL, the Kentuckians are rationing gas and hiking the gas to almost $5 a gallon. My aunt went to fuel up today and they would only allow residents to get 10 gallons. Well, normally, we do not get that much anyway. Why would this affect us you ask?

We are leaving bright and early tomorrow morning for London, KY. My dad's family is having their annual family reunion in Manchester tomorrow. I haven't been to the reunion since Cody was a baby (4 years ago) and my mom really wants us to go. SO... mom and dad are riding down with us and we will split the gas. We plan on fueling up here in Ohio where the gas isn't that ridiculous yet, and then not get a lot while we are down there. It's a 3 hour drive to London then at least another 35 minutes to Manchester, specifically Redbird. Matt is amazed at all the strange names down there like Big Creek, Hacker's Fork, Bear Creek (but pronounced BAR Creek), and Papaw (where my grandparents used to live).

I am concerned for all of those in Texas, don't get me wrong. I am definitely praying for them and praying that all are safe and sound and that Ike slows down. I just am totally annoyed that KY is taking it to extreme and hiking up the gas. Grrrrrrr!!

New Layout

If you really know me, you know that I like change....well, since the beginning of the school is over, I felt the need to change my layout again. These are the colors that I will be decorating the kids' bedroom once the holidays are over. Yes, we are combining Cody and Carleigh into the same room with a partial room divider. Matt and I will be moving back to our old bedroom which is Cody's currently. Our family room will become a family room once again and the living room will be the living room again. More room is a wonderful thing! Of course I would love to just buy a house, but it isn't an option right now. And of course when I do buy, I am not going to settle just for any old house!! I digress!! Ack! I have a tendency to do that!

Anyway, let me know what you think of the colors. I also played around with font colors and titles etc. I want to add a few more bells and whistles to the blog but haven't had the time to do it right....

Stay tuned!!!

Playing together

Last night, right before bedtime, Cody and Carleigh were pretending. This is a new thing for Cody to have developed! Each had a blanket and were putting it over their head as "tents" then the blankets became "coats" or robes for the king or queen. I tied Cody's like a cape and I said "I will tie your coat." When the coat became untied, he came over and said "tie the coat!" Earlier in the evening, he saw his uncle Jerry riding a 4-wheeler up the street (my sis lives on the same street) and he waves out the window and says "Bye bye Jerry!" I get so proud of my little guy when he continues to improve his speech.

I LOVE watching C and C play together. It doesn't matter to them that Cody cannot talk well, they just play together and laugh and laugh. It makes a mommy heart so happy! Of course, 5 minutes later, Carleigh is hitting or taking his toy away!!

We also try to give them one-on-one attention. Carleigh LOVES to be alone with me and we color and cut and play with stickers. Cody loves to look at books with me and loves to be tickled by Matt. Carleigh enjoys when Matt chases her around.

So proud!

I have to post another brag about Cody! He has been drinking through straws!! To most that really isn't a big deal but Cody has dysphagia and it makes it such a HUGE deal when he conquered this! We bought him Spongebob cups with straws. And last night at church....he was drinking out of a juice box successfully!! Wooohoo! We are going to buy some juice boxes this weekend. I think we can start burying his old bottles! Yay.....we have been washing bottles for over 4.5 years straight! Now if we could just get rid of diapers, all would be wonderful!!!!

Oh so grownup!

My stylin' diva! Please ignore ugly door and background! Carleigh LOVES dresses and this is what she wore to church....bought it on clearance at a great price!!

Out of the mouths of preschoolers

Yesterday, my mom was backing out of our driveway and there was a truck on the other side of the street. Carleigh became concerned for Memaw and said "Oh, don't hit it Memaw!" I told her that Memaw could drive really well and that she wouldn't hit it. She didn't stop until mom was safely up the street.

This evening, Cody found food that was apparently given to Carleigh. He quickly shoved it into his mouth and when I asked him what he was eating he said "Mmmmm...good!" and then rubbed his belly!!

Oh, I forgot to add in my other post that we saw a light orange fox cross the street! It was beautiful and at first Matt and my dad thought I was crazy so we went down to our neighbors and there he was! I haven't seen a fox so up close before let alone seeing one on our street. You just never know what you are going to see or hear on our little dead-end street.

By Popular Demand

Cody is not the easiest person to photograph. He likes to climb into the crib and bounce so this was the best way to get a pic of his new haircut.

River Days

After a brief trip shopping and a short nap, we went to River Days in Hamilton with my sister and E. My brother-in-law's blue grass band was playing there so we watched them play and then walked around.

The highlight was watching the kids play on the inflatables. I was very impressed that Carleigh climbed a REALLY steep inflatable and went down the steep slide. Her little face was filled with HORROR the first time though! And the funny thing is that her dress would flare up like Marilyn Monroe's!! He He He! I really didn't plan on inflatables being there and would've planned accordingly!! One little climber was challenging for Cody due to his low muscle tone and poor upper body strength. E helped him up and the joy on his face when he went down was priceless!! My sis took pictures because I left my camera in the van...dumb, dumb, dumb!! So hopefully I will post them when she sends them to me. The obstacle course inflatable was so much fun and it was a challenge getting Cody out as well as the dinosaur bouncy house/slide.

We were walking by a Native American/Civil War demonstration and at the exact moment of walking by it, they shot off an old cannon and scared us out of our wits!!! Carleigh is very sensitive to sounds so it sent her into a talespin for a few minutes!!

We ran into a ton of people we knew and didn't get back until after it closed. It was a fun time and we are all tired!!

It never fails...

When it is 90s+ degrees outside, I have recess duty! Ick! The past two days on the blacktop and grass has been unbearable! My students and I have been coming back hot, sweaty, thirsty and DRAINED! I am normally not a skirt gal, but this week I am wearing the coolest yet dressy outfits for this dreaded duty. Today, we came in filled water bottles and rested a few minutes before focusing on English, Math and Science. It is supposed to get cooler this weekend of course AFTER my week of lunch recess duty. *sigh*

Cody and Carleigh have been all smiles when coming off the bus the past two days. Carleigh fell asleep on the bus ride home since she was on it for about an hour! Mom calls me while I am recess duty and said that the bus hadn't arrived. It was 12:45 p.m. before they were home today and they get on the bus at 11:45 a.m. I am so glad that they LIKE riding the bus and they sit together! How sweet is that???!!

Cody got a haircut last night after I took Back to School pics. I should have a pic of him posted sometime this weekend. (Thursdays are absolutely crazy-busy for me as I have to lesson plan, have all papers graded and posted online for the week as well as generating a weekly newsletter. Fridays are busy as I try to get everything finished so that I do not take work home to do.)

Sibling Love

One moment Cody and Carleigh are fighting (well mostly Carleigh hitting Cody) and the next minute they are sharing a chair and hugging and kissing each other. Typical siblings!!

First Day of School 2008 - 2009

Today was Cody and Carleigh's first day of preschool for the 2008-2009. This will also be Cody's last year of preschool and it may be the last year that they ride the bus together and possibly be going to different schools next year. *sigh* They grow up too fast these days!

Some morning pics

My mom took these shot of their first day. She took an awesome pic, but it was blurry! I took a few in the afternoon.

Labor Day 2008

We went to Harbin for a cookout with Matt's family. Cody and Carleigh had fun playing with their cousins and Cody fell in love with a dog named Chico. Of course, Cody loves all animals, especially dogs! It was cool in the shade, but when you stepped out into the sun, you could really feel the 90s temps! We stayed for quite awhile and then Cody became hot and tired so we came home so that the kids could take a short nap.

Now, the kids are excited for their first day of preschool tomorrow. Carleigh wanted to get dressed and go tonight!! They have already tried on their shoes and backpacks...yep, they are excited!!