That’s my qote for the weekend!

Friday night Derrick and I started to pull all the crappy mulch and weeds out of the garden. We were greeted by a few frogs/toads and a ton of spiders underneath the mulch. 

Saturday morning we finihed for the most part - we still need to do behind the bushes by the front door and by the garage. We then met one of my friends, Patrice, at Sam’s Club. I was trying to decide if we should get a membership or not. Heck, I want to get a membership just for the food tasting and great recipe ideas I received there!  Of course, you can spend quite a bit of money there without even realizing it until you go to check out - oops!  Afterwards, we drove to Raleigh (after putting the Sam’s Club goodies away at home). Xavier needed new shoes since the tips of his toes are a little red. I figured it was time to hit Stride-Rite. He got a brand new pair of sneakers and sandels. Can you believe this child is in a size 8.5?!?!  Derrick got a pair of shoes - he’s a size 9 in mens!!! We found the Easter Bunny by mistake but with no line so I thought what the heck. Xavier had a fit at Santa this past December so I thought it was going to be a fiasco. However, he surprised me and was a total angel. He gave the bunny a big ole high five and hug and smiled (after a little “tickle tickle” play) - see picture below. Afterwards we went to the food court where Xavier ate all the broccoli off my plate, as well as most of my cornbread, corn and a good portion of grilled chicken.  Then we headed to Old Navy for some summer clothes for the kids…both boys got their swim trunk and shirts (thank you Aunt Karina for the tip on the shirts). We were supposed to get Derrick’s cleats and shin gauzrds but we were both shopped out.

Today we had to go to Home Depot for some much needed treatments for -spiders, weeds and ants - since it’s about the time now.  We also bought some replacement lights for our garden that were accidently broken. I won’t mention any names but he’s about 3 feet high We also bought a shovel, looked at the available flowers, ,none of which I liked. I’m not a big stickler for mums or geraniums…I think this year I will do lilly’s since all of them came back this year. We also bought a cheap hedge trimmer.  It will keep the bushes nice and pretty.  I will probably work on the garden more this coming weekend.

Anyway, that was our weekend here in North Carolina.  This week should be busy. It’s about time for my year review mid April so lets see how I do…

Yup the story of my life…Derrick is growing up into a young adult faster than I can type this update.  The soccer people called yesterday to let us know that the team he was put on doesn’t have a coach… Huh? That was my first reaction.  However, I called and found out that if they can’t find a coach then one of the employees for the youth services would coach them - this ought to be interesting.  Regardless, practice I believe starts next week - 2-3 months of shuttling around. Geno, if you read this, HURRY UP AND GET YOUR TAIL HOME!!!

Xavier is growing like a weed. I can’t believe that in a little more then a month he will be TWO!  Derrick has been preparing him by asking “How old are you going to be, two?” Xavier will enthusiasically say “TWO” and hold up two fingers… His new sentence (though only two words) is “We’re home!” when we turn onto our street.  He doesn’t quite get the ending “m” sound so it’s more like “We’re ho” but I know what he means!

Following in his brother’s foot steps - I noticed a couple weeks ago that Xavier was getting small bumps on the back of his legs and it immediately raised a flag.  Derrick has been dealing with Eczema for most of his childhood. Recently though it seems to have become dorment… well, now Xavier seems to have the same problem. It doesn’t seem as severe as Derrick’s, though I can’t remember what age he was when we first noticed it - mom, do you remember?  Anyway, we’ve moved to bathing Xavier about every couple days or so and using very mild soap (I’ve had to get rid of all the “night time” kind and move to more gentle plain soaps/shampoos.  He doesn’t know the difference though, it’s still “bubbles” on his head and body.

Xavier is looking more and more like Geno…he is definately a “Daddy’s Boy”. He sees Geno’s pictures all the time and says “Daddy”. I recently sent Geno a DVD of a 100 or so video’s taken over the last year of the boys.  It’s crazy how time is flying though. I have updated pictures for the boys’ “pages” but the new printer I received hasn’t been set up for scanning just yet maybe I will find time this weekend.

With Easter around the corner so is my day of rest.  Good Friday the post daycare is open but I am off work.  I will make sure my house is clean so that on that day I will sit/lay/lounge around all day.  I thought about getting a spa treatment for the day but then who will appreciate it other then me.  I think I’ll just wait until it’s a little closer for Geno to come home.

Speaking of Geno coming home - I reserved the car that we are going to use to drive up to Dayton. Can you believe that a rental car (intermediate SUV) costs soooo much more when you are picking it up at one place and returning it to another?….GEEZ…

Well, my time is done for today. It’s time to pay bills and get some sleep…WOOHOO!!!

Here are a few pictures of Xavier - I’ll get some of Derrick and maybe one of myself this weekend!

Hey everyone…sorry it’s be a few days since I last wrote anything but I guarentee there is never a dull moment here!

Yesterday Xavier and I drove up to Raliegh for the St. Patrick’s Day parade. Afterward Xavier rode on a pony and then took a nap on the way home.

Matt (Xavier’s Godfather) is coming for a visit this coming weekend.  Derrick’s excited - there’s a male coming to the house!!!  Poor Matt has it coming.  Other then that, Xavier has his big boy bed set up and I gave some fabric to my boss for sheets and whatnot.  He’s not really ready for it yet though.  Maybe by this summer.  We are waiting until he climbs out of his crib to transition him.

Works is work. My co-worker is on vacation this week so it’s just me holding down the fort!  I’ll be glad when she comes back though it’s crazy enough with her there…

The good news is I’ve made reservations for our trip to San Antonio. The bad news is I cna’t get airline tickets until we know for sure when Geno’s coming for R&R.  I’m sooo excited!!!

Well, I know this is yet another short one…but it’s time to start making dinner…  Here are a few pictures to make it LOOK longer!

Ok, so we didn’t do the flower bed - maybe next weekend. Instead we washed my car, changed out the wipers and even windexed the inside AND outside windows.  We also rode our bikes to the shoppette (like a minimart on post) to get some milk and poptarts.  I really didn’t feel like going anywhere today.

It was a beautiful 70+ degrees today and sunny!  We spent a lot of time outside.  I also started putting Xavier’s BIG Boy bed together.  The bed was made the opposite way from the picture but that’s ok…it works this way. Xavier is very excited by it, however, I don’t think he’s ready for it just yet.  He still has issues sometimes going to sleep.  I’ve also realized that I have to childproof his room. I never really did since he was in a crib… oh well, so is the way of the world.

Well, today was the second day Xavier hasn’t taken a solid nap :-(  He took a quick catnap while we went for a bike ride.  The good thing is he fell asleep quite nicely.

Anyhow, it’s bedtime and I’m exhausted. Nighty night!

Chalk this past week for one of the slowest… It just kept dragging on and on. I did learn one thing - if I plan on taking a half day take the afternoon off, not the morning. I had to take Thursday morning off for a phone confrence that never came. When I went into work that afternoon there wasn’t enough caffeine in the world to keep me up. I did most of my work standing up - it was aweful.

Today was just about normal. Geno called this morning. He was finally able to talk to Derrick. Last weekend he wasn’t able to call the whole weekend and the weekend before that Derrick was spending the night over at Braxton’s.  He seems to be doing well. We are trying to decide if we will buy a house at the next duty station or remain on post.  There are pros and cons to both.  Since the next post we get assigned to could be our last (if Geno does flight medic) it would be a good time to buy a house.  However, since we will be moving to a new area it might be wise to live on post for a short time so we can get the lay of the land and learn the good/bad parts of a new community.   Anyway, after talking to Geno the boys and I hopped on our bikes and we rode to the post office to mail a package to Geno and my mom.  Xavier ended up not taing a nap today and at about 3p I decided I would do everything I could to keep him up until 730p.  It worked and he’s been sleeping since 730. I’m hoping the time change doesn’t hurt him to much though.  The spring change is usually harder then the fall.

Tomorrow we are pulling weeds, taking up the old mulch from last year and maybe wash the car….we will see. I’ll post pictures of our accomplishments, if I get a chance.  Our flower garden is a mess.  Geno’s already said not to go overboard this year with flowers. I will probably get the same one’s I had last year, with an exception of the daisies (those didn’t do so well last year and I took many weekly trips to buy more to replace the one’s that died - Geno was sooo understanding, LOVE YOU!)  This year I plan to do more research for our region and sun exposure.

Well, I think I’m going to go upstairs and relax. I have a movie or two that I might try to watch. NIGHTY NIGHT!

I’ve since moved the side table…

Cheese! I get a lot of these from Xavier…

Our Boys…

It’s Saturday evening and I ask myself “Self, where has the time gone?” This morning Derrick had soccer skills assessment. They called Wednesday and said that an opening had come up so it’s Spring Soccer for the Lolli Family.   He did well, scoring an 18 out ot 20 overall. Afterwards, we went to pick up Derrick’s bike. I didn’t have time to change out the innertubes so I left it at a bike shop.  So we picked that up and a new helmet for Xavier. The old helmet turned out to be unsafe (the velcro tabs had come unglued from the helmet - definately NOT safe).  Xavier fell asleep on the way home so I cleaned the kitchen and straightened up the livingroom then relaxed and took a short catnap before Xavier woke up 2 hours later.  Derrick spent the rest of the day at Braxton’s playing basketball, video game or neverending games of tag. I had a “Mystery Host” Pampered Chef Party in my neighborhood so Xavier and I went to that…what a group of women, let me tell you.  Afterwards, Xavier and I came home, I changed into sweatpants, tshirt and tennis shoes and we took a short bike ride around my neighborhood - whew, with all the hills here!  Here are some pictures after our adventure. 

His helmet is a little crooked. He was trying to take it off when we pulled into the driveway…but “cheesed” when he saw mommy pull out the camera. Afterwards, I made dinner and Xavier watched Finding Nemo…along with wrestling with me…his new favorite activity.

Now he’s sleeping peacefully upstairs after a nice warm bath…

Tomorrow I’ve got quite a few shows to copy for Geno and laundry - the never ending chore. It’s going to be much cooler tomorrow (around 50) compared to the low-mid 70’s today. So, it will be spent inside to keep away the colds from the rollercoaster temperatures.

Take care everyone!