How was your weekend?

Ours was great!! How could it not be with this weather!?! All weekend we enjoyed blue, sunny skies and temps in the mid 80's. Perfection!

I picked up Reid from preschool Friday and had a little time to kill before an appointment. Reid wanted to go to the library. When we got there the parking lot was full. What a blessing that turned out to be! We had to drive past the library toward the river and discovered a hidden gem (at least to us) right here in Wetumpka. We've been to this park at night for Christmas on the Coosa, but we've never ventured that way during the day. I'm not sure why - just haven't.

It is absolutely beautiful, and I can assure you there will be many more walks along the Coosa in our future.

After I got my hair cut, as Reid and I were getting back in the car I felt someone "goose" me right in the side. I turned around and there stood my beautiful B. I didn't expect her until later that evening, but she left early and knew where I would be so she came to surprise me. So sweet and I love it when I don't know she's on the road because then I won't worry. :)

Grant had a practice game in Holtville Saturday. Mac had practice in Wetumpka at the same time. Since Grant's practice was a game he really wanted Sissy to see him play. Mimi was so sweet to take Mac to his practice and spend some time with just Mackey so that Sissy, Reid and I could go to Grant's scrimmage.
I have absolutely no pictures from this and it makes me sad. :(

We met back up with Meems to get Mac and headed home for our first swim of this year.

Sissy had had enough of the sun by this time, but she did have one request for the evening:  Chris' salmon for dinner. So Chris headed to Montgomery to fulfill that request. By the time he got back a friend had called to ask him to go to dinner so he left us with strict instructions on how to cook it. I don't know if we're chef material or just good at following directions, but our dinner of salmon and asparagus was absolutely delicious. We ate all of it. Every.single.bit. The boys were tuckered out after a full day of sun, so we tucked them into bed early with a movie and watched a movie of our own until Chris got back. The movie sucked (My Week with Marilyn - just wasn't good to us) but I always love girl time.

Sunday we decided to head to Selma/Marion Junction to Chris' parent's place so the boys could fish. I say boys because Sissy is not into the great outdoors and fishing isn't something she particularly enjoys. However, since it has been a long while since Big Daddy and Grandmama Norton have seen her we decided it would be fun for Chris to go ahead with Grant and Mac, and Sissy and I would follow with Reid later in Sissy's car. That way B could visit with the Nortons for a bit then head to her Grandmommy (yes, she still calls Sandy that and I love it) and Pop's house to visit them as well before heading north.

I don't know how I have no pictures of my girl from this weekend. I guess when she's here I want to soak up every minute with her so it just doesn't occur to me to get my camera. Well, that and I always hear "MOOOOOMMMMMMM" when I do. We'll have to work on that. :)

But since I found some treasures while cleaning out the inside office I thought I lost, here's a sweet one of her I love:

We had a great visit with Grandmama Norton. We toured her sewing room, saw the quilt she's making for the boys, Reid found his stash of toys, and we drank homemade lemonade while catching up. Reid didn't last long. He couldn't stand knowing his brothers were at the pond so he made the trek by himself. Big Daddy came back up to the house for a bit and of course provided many laughs. He's a mess. So is Louise. You put those two together (for almost 41 years now) and it's a riot. Bethany and I joked it was a glimpse into my and Chris' future in about 30 years. :) After Bethany left Grandmama stayed behind to make us cookies and Big Daddy took me down to the pond. Chris and the boys were all out in the boat.

BD and I fished from the bank for a while - we had a little luck. This was our view.

It wasn't too long before the boys (and Chris in the boat with the boys) were ready to call it a day. I guess so. By that time they had caught around 70 or so fish.

I love how they all three ran to me like they hadn't seen me in forty forevers.

We made our way back to the house for cookies. After a little breather Chris wanted to go back out in the boat once more. The boys stayed behind so he and I could go together. Chris caught 6 or 7 more. I caught none. I think he gave me the bunk rod and reel and/or lure while he fished with the good one (because he knows I wouldn't know the difference) just so he could say he caught more. ha! I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that I go fishing roughly 2 times a year and consider it a good day when I leave without getting my line caught in a tree. All total we caught 85 fish. They're small, perfect for filleting and eating. We can't wait to go back.

See!?! I told you my weekend was great.

Happy Spring!

Take Two: Ear Tubes

Mac had ear tubes placed three years ago. They worked wonders. The tubes grew out at some point this past summer, and he almost immediately began having problems again. After quite a few nasty ear infections (you know they're bad when the doctor looks in his ear and says, "Wow. Ew. That's a nasty one," I knew a visit with his ENT was in order. His ENT confirmed what I already suspected - that he was keeping fluid behind his ears, there was negative pressure, and he was suffering from some hearing loss. Dr. Cawthon suggested placing another set of tubes, especially since swimming season is almost upon us. I definitely wasn't against it since the first set proved to be advantageous.

Mac is a trooper and has a tolerance for pain like I've never seen before, but he has been very ready to have this done and for his ears to feel good again. However, his first surgery also included a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. The tonsillectomy was pure hell. The pain medicine burned his throat. It was very hard to get him to take it. Since he hurt so bad he didn't want to drink much less eat. He quickly became dehydrated which resulted in a day in the ER for IV fluids. Not fun. He automatically associated tubes with that experience. We assured him this go around would be nothing like that. Thankfully we were able to schedule the surgery quickly so he didn't have too long to worry.

Today was the day. I'm happy to report he made it through with flying colors. His surgery was the first case, so we were in and out of there and headed home by 9:15 a.m. After a stop by McDonald's for hashbrowns and finally being able to drink his morning coffee, he's good to go. He's supposed to take it easy the rest of the day. That may be the toughest part of all. ;)

Of course I had to take some pictures.

First getting into a room - a bit anxious

Nerves turned into a bit of irritability...
I just want my coffee!!

Seriously??? You have to take a picture of me in this dress gown?

Daddy, it's not really a dress. It a gown. And I have to wear it. :)

Sweet loves

After a dose of some medicine to take the edge off.
What nerves? I'm great! haha
And in case you can't tell Chris loves pictures. ;)

Chris doesn't share in my desire to document every.single.detail (plus everything went rather fast), so there isn't a picture of Mac sitting in my lap on the bed as we're being wheeled down to the holding room. But let me tell you, it was fun. He was grinning like a Cheshire cat the entire way. He thought that was pretty cool.

I know this surgery is very simple and routine. It is not, however, routine for us. Naturally any time your child is put under anesthesia it brings about some concern. Many thanks to everyone who prayed for us. All the prayers were deeply felt.

My patient is requesting some Skittles (thanks to a Costco-size bag from Meems). Skittles it is. :)

Celebrating Turbo

We had a ton of fun celebrating Reid's birthday in all kinds of ways. Chris will say, "Y'all are the most celebratin' people I've ever met." HA!

I'll mostly let the pictures speak for themselves. There are a lot of them.

Thinking we wouldn't be here the weekend of Reid's birthday, we planned a little celebration at my parent's house the weekend before. If you know my mom and Rachel you know they couldn't stand the thought of not celebrating his birthday with him somehow.

We had dinner then it was time for cake and ice cream. Not just any cake. And not just any ice cream.

Miss Amy made the cake. Of course. 

So great and yummy! Her cakes are always a treat. The only thing that made the cake better was my mom's homemade ice cream.

Time to sing

A little bashful

So funny to look at everyone in the picture. Check out their mouths.
Everyone is trying to "help" blow out the candles :)

Mmmmm

Then it was time for presents. Both of his brothers wrote the birthday boy a note all by themselves and took money out of their own wallets to give to him. This I love.

"Shelf" a/k/a Chef Reid was the theme for the night. In case you didn't know, Reid wants to be a shelf when he grows up.

Between "Aint" Dawnie's mixer,

RaRa's "kitchen tools" as he calls them, and his chef attire he's well on his way. ;)

He has asked more than once if his apron is "dirty proof." I took it to mean if it was okay to get it dirty. I assured him that yes, it can be washed. Little does he know there's not much we have around here that isn't dirty proof. :)

A few more snapshots...

The cousins got some quality cousin time and naturally there was lots of eating, talking and laughter.

And did I mention laughter? :)

A great way to celebrate our Turbo.

Reid really wanted to go to the beach for his birthday. When he first mentioned it Chris and I thought it sounded like a great idea. We have been wanting to go down and check on the camper anyway. Unfortunately things don't always go as planned, and it just didn't work out for us to go. We have promised him we will go as soon as we can. He was bummed (so was I) that it didn't work out. Well Friday night we may not have been headed to the beach but monster trucks were headed to Montgomery.

We didn't tell the boys we were going until we pulled up to the Coliseum. They were ecstatic. The monster trucks were fun but I have to say the motorcycles with all their tricks stole the show.

We got the boys ear plugs. Mac and Reid put theirs in as soon as we sat down. Professor didn't think he needed his.

Once those monster trucks got going it turns out momma was right ;)

These pictures aren't the greatest and the red eyes creep me out - even creepier when I tried to correct them. But it's all I have so I'm going with it.

Yes. That's pink cotton candy. Mac is apparently becoming quite secure
in his manhood (boyhood?) because he picked the pink cotton candy over the blue.
He is even asking for a pink Polo shirt. There is no denying that boy is a
Norton but a pink shirt??? His daddy would NEVER. Neither would Grant.
He'll sure look handsome in it, though. You never know with Bueller.  

There are two motorcycles in that ball. Two. 

Reid isn't a fan of cotton candy but a snow cone? Yes please.

Birthday boy

You know it's been a good night at the monster truck show when your ears are still ringing at bedtime. :)

Then of course Sunday came which was his actual birthday. He requested Chuck E. Cheese. Grrrr. The one in Montgomery is, shall we say, less than stellar. Ok I'm being nice. It's disgusting. And the only time I'm comfortable being there is as soon as it opens. So that's what we did. We were in and out of there in a couple of hours and managed to talk him into eating somewhere else. I felt like we brought home enough germs just playing there. Eating there? If they can't even keep soap and paper towels in the bathroom what must the kitchen look like behind those closed doors? Yikes! I just couldn't do it. Thankfully every.single.table was reserved so... awww, shucks... no place to sit.

They always go to skee-ball first - my personal favorite

Whatever it was it captured their attention

Sweet boy

Quiet and still... maybe we should see if we could get
one of these at home. hahaha

After lunch elsewhere we headed home and spent the rest of the day being lazy - sans food poisoning. Yay!

Sissy wasn't here that weekend so the next weekend she decided she would have a Sissy/Reid day. I don't know that those two have ever had a day like that. They were both rather excited. I had a couple of errands for B while she was in Montgomery. Have I mentioned I'm getting a little more used to her being 16?!? Then B had a few things she wanted them to do together.

One of their stops was Petland to play with some pups.

It's always fun to get some puppy love.

Not long after lunch with Meems, B was ready to call it a day. She let Reid have Coke at lunch. She now understands why I don't let the boys have caffeine. ha!

Thank you, Sissy! It's no secret your brothers adore you.

I can't believe our baby is 5. Such a big boy. The boys' ages right now are 5, 6 and 7. I love it when they're like that. It's much easier now than when they were 1, 2 and 3. :)

TGIF

I've been in somewhat of a rut. A blog rut that is. I have so much to blog about but so few words. Maybe it has something (probably a lot) to do with the fact that I'm still reeling from the effects of having the flu last week. Newsflash: THE FLU SUCKS! I am almost back to 100% but am still worn down by day's end. But today was better than yesterday and I'm sure tomorrow will be even better than today.

Famous last words when asked about a flu shot earlier this year: "No. I don't get the flu shot. I never get the flu."

I do foresee flu shots in my future. And I'm really growing tired of crow sandwich. :)

A few "funnies" to end the week on, for my benefit.

Last week (Thursday to be exact) Grant got hurt in the bathtub. Nothing major. In fact, I can't even remember now exactly what it was he hurt. However, he was ill as a sore-tailed cat already and that obviously made it worse. He had a Negative Nelly moment and grumbled, "MAN! I've gotten hurt Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Fri... Well. Tomorrow is Friday. But I'll probably get hurt." Just call him Eeyore. hehee

Reid had a little money to spend after his birthday so of course it was burning a hole in his pocket. We stopped by Wal-Mart one day because I like to torture myself to let him spend some of it. He found something he wanted, and it just so happened to be on sale for half price. I made a big deal about it and told him he was a great bargain shopper, that he would still have this much left, etc. He just grinned and said, "Yeah, yeah I'm am." Which is another one I love how he says and can't bring myself to correct - I'm am. :) As we were getting in the car he gave me the receipt and said, "Here, put this in my baby book please." Apparently he was so excited about his first big bargain he wanted to keep a record of it. ;)

Dawn sent me this the other day (which she found on Pinterest) - said she thought about me when she saw it. I thought it was funny:

HAPPY FRIDAY!