The Karate Cry Baby

Now, some people would read the title and think that I meant my son, however, that is entirely not true. Yes, he did cry for the first class he took but after that not a single drop fell. He has fallen in love with the class, friends and instructors for which I am SUPER thankful! He loves going each week and it is such fun to watch my little man grow, learn and improve!

Now, for the REAL Cry Baby... There is a boy who has been in karate class with my son for several months now. Every friggin day he cries. Every. Friggin. Day. So, last week was the belt ceremony and most kids got a new belt. My son got his second belt because he is just that awesome :) Well, this kid was not at the ceremony but was at practice yesterday. At the end of the class Sensei came out with the belts for those that earned them but weren't at the ceremony this weekend. He started to hand them out and then gets to this particular little boy. Now, most of you probably know, I am COMPETITIVE! As he hands this belt to this boy I am thinking, "Um, seriously???!!! He cries and does NOTHING during the class other than disrupt things and try to run out of the room to his mommy!" I'm sure it was to try to encourage him, etc... blah, blah, blah..... but still. I can't help but think it's not right. (There's my merciful side kicking in). But I didn't say anything, I wasn't about to point it out to my son or the parents, it's really not THAT big of a deal, I'm just mean :)

So, as we get into the van to go home, my son said to me, "Mom, did you see that he got a belt? He cries all the time Mom and he STILL got a belt!" Now I feel a little vindicated even though it was by a 5 year old. I had to keep the smug look inside myself and then try to come up with a half believable and convincing story as to why "he" should get a belt. I think I am horrible. Yeah, deny a kid a belt instead of encouraging him. Too bad my son is that way too! :) What sick and twisted people we are! Ah well!

Just a taste...

Here is a list of just a few things going on in my life right now. I will hopefully blog in full soon as I have some great things to share.

~Aaron licking cracker crumbs off the floor under the licking room table.
~Belle randomly throwing up in the car and being completely fine after that.
~Aaron asking Jesus to come into his heart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
~Calling the Fire Department at 12:30am
~Home Schooling Aaron
~Getting baby fixes from the adorable twins downstairs
~Finally getting around to undecorating from Christmas
~Work
~Planning what we'll do to celebrate Valentines Day, birthdays and an anniversary coming up
~Running into bitter stalkers
~Dealing with people so ridiculous in life that you cannot help but think they are mentally challenged.
~Dreaming about a vacation with just Davey and no responsibility!!!!!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful day, I will try to elaborate on a few things listed above soon, some stories are too priceless to share!

I Hate Thinking of Titles...

I figured it's been forever since I last posted, to all you loyal fans (note the sarcasm- how can you be loyal if there really is nothing to be loyal to??) here is a blog just for you!

Life is wonderful! Dave is busy with studying and helping my Aunt and Uncle, working on becoming an official full time employee. He is loving it and doing very well! He will be going to Michigan, Texas and I think one other state in the next few months for classes and certifications. I'm not too thrilled about that part but I know God will get me through the lonely days without him.

I am loving the new apartment! It is certainly roomie enough for us and with having a great neighbor downstairs I can run out during nap time some days and leave the Wild Woman home sleeping. Ahhhh, bliss! I am hoping to be able to start a women's bible study soon and I'm looking forward to that. I miss the one I used to go to on Tuesday mornings but with the changes that have been made in my life and schedule it really doesn't work out too well for me to go. I'm super excited about this weekend, my grandmother is turning 80 and we are having a surprise party for her on the Eastern Shore this weekend and I convinced Davey to let us all take a long weekend at Ocean City too! Woohoo! There is lots of rain in the forecast but I DONT CARE!!!! Time away with my wonderful hubby and the kiddies is always welcome! We'll be home Sunday just in time for the Ravens game- perfect!

Aaron is in Kindergarten this year and is doing very well. He loves math and handwriting especially. We butt heads a few times and at least once a week Dave gives him the 'don't argue with your mother..." speech but over all things are good. He just turned 5 two weeks ago- I can't believe my baby is 5!!!!! It is so wonderful to see him grow up and turn into a little boy, but I do miss my baby as well. It's very bittersweet. He got a bike and is learning to ride it with training wheels for now. He look so cute with his little helmet and elbow pads on. :) (As soon as I get my photography act together I will post pics).

My Belle is basically out of the baby look and totally into the toddler look now. She is ornery as ever but sweet and wonderful at the same time! She runs every where and is anything but quiet, but she will cuddle every once in a while if I bribe her with a favorite book. She insists on doing school with us so I give her a page to color with crayons and that works well for about 2.5 seconds until she decides the crayon is a good mid-morning snack. Delicious... I'm super stoked that I finally found a pair of pink generic uggs for me to wear when she wears hers, woohoo! (Gee, I wonder where she gets her love of shoes??)

I can't believe that Christmas is about 10 weeks away! It's time for me to find the Christmas cd's and get them ready for playing! I have some gifts already purchased but that will be a short lived victory, I guarantee I'll feel like "I got so much done early, I have plenty of time...." and will be scrambling soon enough to finish up. (Why should this year be any different? :)). Our neighbor downstairs had her twins last month and they are all doing well. I have been able to get a baby fix quite often which I love and Dave does too, he's hoping it'll keep me from bugging him for more babies. We'll see. I love having such a great Christian couple downstairs. It;s nice for the security when Dave is gone and the company is nice when we just hang out. I am going to miss our afternoon walks or sitting on the swing out front while my kids play and I hold a baby but soon enough Spring will be here and we'll be back at it again. My life is ever changing and I love it! God keeps blessing us and showing us His hand at work in our lives. I almost don't worry about things now, it seems I have (for now) started to learn to just go with the flow and trust God to lead us. He has led Dave and me for the last 6 years so why should now be any different?

Well, I hear laundry, cleaning and packing calling my name! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo

Shoes

I have a lot to blog about but since the kids are up I don't have much time. Here is a quick story I can share and hopefully I will have more time later today :).

Last night I took the kids to Target to get a few things, including a new pair of crocs for Belle. She saw a pair while we were out a few weeks ago shopping and insisted on wearing them in the store and I obliged since it kept her happy in the stroller. Once we got to the register I knew I had to buy them or she would have had a fit and since they were only $2, I didn't mind. She wears them almost every day and absolutely LOVES them. Fast forward to now and they are too small. So, out we go and no crocs were to be found. Can you believe it? I know crocs are pretty popular so I know I can find them some where and it wasn't a big deal, however, I had already informed my daughter (whose first real word was "shoes") who loves shoes as much as I do that we were buying shoes. So, what's a mother to do??? As soon as I rounded the corner to the little girl shoes section my eyes were immediately drawn to the adorable pink "uggs" and since they were in her size and she was pointing to them saying "shoes, shoes, mommy, shoes!" I decided it was a sign I should buy them fer her. So I did. :) She came home and hurt her fingers pretty badly in the VCR and it wasn't till after we out her new shoes on her that she settled down and was ok. They look absolutely adorable on her and she insisted on wearing them to bed as well. I let her since they have not been outside yet but that seems to be her routine. It's not the first time she has slept in shoes at her insisting. It is now 9:45am and she is still wearing the shoes and I'm assuming she will wear them all day too. Shoes, phones, clothes and bracelets are her favorite things. Hmmmm, I wonder where she gets it??? ;)

The Blessing of Noise

I was driving home from Target today (where I got the cutest pair of pink baby uggs for Belle (love them!!!) and as we're driving home I was listening to my new favorite cd, Francesca Battistelli. Aaron and Belle were in the back seat and decided to have a contest to see who could yell the loudest and longest. It was quite loud and as I thought "I would like to ride in the car just once with them and actually listen to what I want to listen to" I was silently reminded of how wonderful their noise really is to my ears. As much as I love to listen to my music, I would gladly give up all music to listen to Aaron and Belle's "noise". I especially love it when they laugh at each other, such a great sound!!!!

It's finally over!

We moved this past week and I am so very glad that it is all over! I still have unpacking, rearranging, organizing and throwing out to do but I can relax a little now and take my time getting it all done. I have a lot done already and need to basically just finish the kitchen and living room, but I have a huge pantry in the kitchen and storage closet in the living room so I have boxes and junk stored there so the apartment looks fairly nice already :). I'm hoping to get some new curtains for the living room soon and some decorations too- I love the new furniture!!! :)

Dave is in GA this week so I'm taking care of the kids and trying to stay sane. Belle likes to open all the doors and drawers in the kitchen so I need to get some latches from Target soon. I have never installed them before and if I can get it done before Dave gets back he'll be shocked to learn that I can use a drill ;)

Well, I'm off to clean, unpack, do laundry and get ready for a long afternoon at work! I hope you all enjoy this absolutely beautiful day!

Ah, moving....

Well, I know it's been forever since I last posted and I figured I should write something since there is a lot going on in the ever-changing Casamento Household. Hmmmm, where to start? MOVING!!!

Our house we are renting is being sold so we have to move. Normally it would be super scary and stressful to have to go through this with the main money maker Unemployed, but God has just blessed us with such peace that we are excited to move and looking forward to what else He has for us. I am super excited about the new place we are moving to- a huge apartment with a HUGE kitchen and living room that are connected so I can see while doing dishes, entertaining people, etc... so that is awesome for me! We are going to be down by one bedroom so Belle and Aaron will have to share, but worse things have happened. (And actually, there is a closet off the living room that I could turn into a little bedroom for the Diva if needed). A bonus is that my friend, Alicia, will be downstairs in the other apartment so after she has her twins I can get my baby fix whenever I want and not have to go through the pregnancy and birthing process- woot! :) We had planned on buying this house and felt like, for the first time in 6 years, that we were really putting down roots in a home but God has something better for us apparently. We were sad for about a day or two and now I can't wait to move! Moving day is Wednesday, July 1st, just a few days away. Thankfully most stuff is packed up and between today and tomorrow I'll get all but the absolutely necessary items packed. June flew by fast!

There is more to the story but I can't blog about it- just pray for us as we go through some changes and adjustments. They are all good, but kind of stressful and with having two children who will have to adjust too it's a little harder. All I can really say is that God is amazingly faithful and loving and as much as I am "stressed"- no, not even stressed, more like just not looking forward to going through it- I am excited to see what is on the other side.

I hope you all have a wonderful day in this nasty 90 degree weather! (Sara, if your pool was open I'd be there in a heart beat!)