Life's Chapters

Well, it's been over a week since I posted. I'm not sure I can even remember anything that far back :) Last week was Hutson's first week home with John. We took him out of daycare for now hoping to save some money. But hopefully John will get a job soon, more on that later.

Tanisha's dance had observation week last week, so I went and observed her ballet class. I got to watch her on her pointe shoes and saw their dance for recital. On the way home Tanisha informed me that she didn't want to continue pointe once she outgrew her shoes. Since her feet hasn't grown in almost 2 years, I'm not sure she'll ever outgrow them :) I think that pointe is very beautiful and enjoyed watching her on them. Thursday was the play for drama club "Freak the Mighty". It was actually very good and all the kids did a fabulous job. Here is a [blurry] picture. Tanisha is in the green.

Hutson has been working in his new workbook during the day with daddy and learning more of his letters. I had worked with him one night on H, T, B, and N. H for Hutson, T for Tanisha, B for Brooke, and N for Nicholas. The next day John worked with him some more and apparently Hutson argued with him that N was for Brooke; so when I came down he told me "Mommy, daddy said N was for Nicholas" and he had this sad little tattling face on. John took him to the zoo to see the baby tigers one day last week, and they planted some flowers outside for me.

This past weekend we traveled to Oklahoma to spend some time with some of my family. My Aunt Mary and Uncle Keith live in Talihina, OK. It always fun to visit them and be with my cousins. The weekend before they flew out to Oregon to drive my Grandpa Peterman and his dog Taz back to their house. I don't get to see Grandpa very much, so it was nice to see him so soon after Christmas. Here's an adorable picture of him and Hutson....

My aunt was able to bring some of my grandpa's pictures back with her so she could scan all the ones he had and put them on Cd's for anyone who wants them. It was so fun to go thru and see me and my cousins when we were little, and I loved looking at the ones from when my grandpa was young. He had some great photo's. It was really neat to actually see what pictures my grandparents had that I had forgot about, some I could have gone without seeing again (ex-boyfriends), but as my aunt pointed out to me those were chapters of my life. I'm so glad my life was able to move past some of those chapters, and on to bigger and better things!

We spent the majority of the weekend hanging out, playing rock band, and some even braved the pool. Hutson actually loved it this time and had to be forced out because he was "shaking wike a weaf" as he pointed out. John and Hutson did some fishing (or pretended). Ever since we got home Hutson has been wanting to go fishing, guess we'll have to get him a pole for his birthday....

John had his first interview on Monday. It's with a Structural Engineering firm that specializes in bridges. It is not what he has been focusing on for the past 10 years and would be a total career change, but he's excited about the possibility. He always wanted to design bridges, and when he first graduated from college he interviewed with a firm in Nashville who was looking for a bridge engineer. Of course by the time they had called to offer him a job he had already accepted the job in Richmond and was actually on his way to moving there.... I am grateful that he took the Richmond job or who knows if we would have met ;) Anyway out of 100 resumes he was 1 of 5 that will be interviewed for the job. They said they would call him on Friday and let him know either way. They told him that although he had no experience in bridges, his experience in construction and managing helped him alot. I'm also sure his PE license helped a little. So on Friday we'll know if John's next chapter in his life will begin.

Well, I have to work this week (Spring Break), but I'm trying to enjoy as much as I can with the kids. We had lunch at the zoo today, and I'm sure we'll find a couple of other small fun things to do. I am off to Jackson, MS on Monday and Tuesday for our project there, and the following week will be in Richmond for my monthly visit. I am very nervous of the changes that John's new job will bring (this one or even a different one). I have been spoiled our whole marriage, where we worked, either 15 minutes apart and could have lunch together everyday, or he was in the same room as me. I am not a big person on change....

Well, hope every one's week is going great and continues that way!

What a week!

Whoa was this a long week. I am so thankful it is Friday! The week started with me getting up at 4:30 to take John to the airport. My wonderful boss, hired John for the week to help one of my co-workers field measure a lodge in Stratton Mountain, VT. We are so grateful and thankful that he gave John this opportunity. Anyway, so I was on my own on Monday. No big deal. After Tanisha's drama practice we went for a walk on the greenway as it was almost 80 degrees. We stopped for awhile to let Hutson play on the playground, and sissy actually played with him. That doesn't happen all the time. We took Peanut with us. I was a little weary, because Peanut thinks that he's a 100 lb pit bull, and will bark at people and other dogs. But was very well behaved, and I think he was just so out of shape that he didn't have the energy. He had to catch a ride with Hutson for part of it... see pic below, not great quality as I took it with my phone.

Well, Tuesday I had my own flight to catch to Richmond, so again I had to get up at 4:30. John's brother spent the night with us Monday night so the kids could sleep in there own bed's and not at Poppy and Dee Dee's (thanks Uncle Bryan). The rest of Tuesday thru Thursday was a blur.... work till 5:30, have dinner with co-worker, work again till 10:00 each night, get up at 5:30 (4:30 tn time) go to work and so on and so forth. I got home about 9:30 last night (10:30 VA time). Dee Dee let Hutson stay up till I got home and then the kids and I all piled into my bed. John is still in Vermont. Well, Hutson so excited that Mommy was home kept talking and kicking his sister, and wanting to play under the covers. I finally told him that if he didn't hold still he was going to have to go to his own bed- which is where he ended up. And Tanisha and I got a great nights sleep. Note to all the kids hardly ever sleep with us, and it's been quite a while since Tanisha has slept with me. She used to always ask, when she was younger, and John was out of town, but I guess you get too big to do that.

And to end I have some exciting news!!! And no I'm not pregnant :) While I was waiting for my desperately needed coffee to make this morning, I started going thru the mail from the week. And in the mail was a letter from Duke University. For those of you who don't know, Tanisha did so well on her state tests last year (98% or better on everything) she was invited to take the ACT in December with all the high schoolers. If she did well enough, then she would be accepted into Dukes Talented program for Middle Schoolers. She took the test and we got her results back in January. She did very well for a 7th grader, but I wasn't sure it was enough to get into the program. John's mom did tell us that there were high schoolers that would have been ecstatic with her results. Anyway, we thought that she had to have 3 out of 4 scores over a 21 to get into the program, however Tanisha only had 2 over 21 (other two were pretty close). WELL, the letter this morning was a congratulations to her that she was accepted!!!! When I get the big package will get all the details, but I am so proud of her!

First signs of Spring

Today was beautiful. It was in the mid 70's, and wonderful. We decided last night we would go to the Nashville zoo this morning knowing it was supposed to be nice. So to bribe Hutson a little (wrong I know) we told him if he was good last night and went to bed like a good boy we would go to the zoo when we woke up. Well all night we heard about the wions (lions), and tigers, and whippers (leopards), and the barking zebras. For those of you who don't know Zebra's really do make a barking sound like a dog. Hutson and John will get online and look up animals sounds. We were a bit disappointed that the baby tigers weren't out yet, but in a few weeks they'll be introduced at the zoo, so we'll have to go back during Spring Break. I'm glad that we decided to get a membership again, because it's a free entertainment now! We had fun though, here are a few pics....





This was really neat to see the Tigers like this....

Hutson LOVES the zoo.....

John goofing around with the timer and the hanging the camera on his back....

While at the zoo, some lady (I'm using this term loosely) exposed alot of her self to everyone in the kids play area while sitting down, and Tanisha had John laughing because she leaned over to him and said "Crack kills"....

Couple of funny stories about Hutson: When I picked him up from school yesterday, he was singing a song with the tune "Brother John" I couldn't understand the first part, but knew he was saying "I can smell red." He wanted me to sing with him too, but I told him I didn't know the words. He gave me a big sigh like "jeez mom" and very slowly told me that the words are "R E D Red, I can smell red." I about died, first cause he really could spell red, and second that he thought the word was smell. He later taught sissy the words and when she told him it was spell, he argued with her and said no it was smell!

Later in the evening as we were all lounging and enjoying our Friday evening, Hutson was down playing with his toys in the den and talking about Mommy, Daddy, his sister, his kitties, and his brother. We all looked at him and asked him who is Brother was? He gave us one of his looks like we are idiots and said "Peanut is my brother".... Well, Peanut is our little black pomeranian!
We've spent the remainder of our Saturday playing with our webcam and talking to family. We got to see Aunt Manda's baby belly (Aunt Leann wants a girl), and our cousin Katherine at Oklahoma State, and I tried my dad, but as always they weren't home. Webcams really are very cool. I'm hoping I can convince my sister-in-law to purchase one so Hutson can talk to his beloved Brooke and Nicholas.

Snow in March!!!

We heard all last week about the possibility of snow, but you know you can never believe the weather guessers. Well... we woke up to snow on Sunday morning! Yay! Of course the first thing Tanisha asked us , was if we thought it was enough snow to cancel school on Monday. She wasn't that lucky. We had about 3 inches of snow. Just enough to go out in the morning and play.

We played down by our creek for a little while. Tanisha played on the tree swing and Hutson made snowballs and threw them into the creek. Peanut our dog loves snow, so he spent the time rolling around in it. Before lunch we went over to John's parents and played with our jeep over there and then made a snowman. The kids had a blast. Hutson has asked to play in the snow everyday since, even though we don't have snow anymore.

John is on vacation this week, except really it's his last week with his company. Due to the economy right now his company has laid off many workers. He had been there 10 years, but a couple of other of his co-workers who had been there much longer also got laid off. He has been putting his resume into everywhere. Of course the common response if that they're not hiring right now. But I have faith that he will get a job. Until then I have a whole list of honeydo chores for him and he's been very helpful around the house. I haven't felt so stressed out because he has been taking care of alot of the household chores. I have a wonderful husband!

Tanisha has been spending her time after school at Drama practice for the next play she is in "Freak the Mighty". Don't ask me now what it is about, because I haven't a clue, but in a couple of weeks I'll get the privilege of sitting thru it. :) So Tuesdays and Wednesdays are busy in our house because she also has dance.
Hutson is doing really well with his potty training. In fact I guess you could say he IS potty trained! We still put a pull-up on him at nap time and at bedtime though. But most nights he stays dry. His newest thing is wanting to wear his superman costume from Halloween. Who knows why. His age right now is my favorite for little kids. They are learning something new everyday and they keep you laughing. His train set he got for Christmas was really a great gift as he loves to play with that. It still amazes how different him and Tanisha are- or maybe it's just the boy/girl difference.

I am currently staying busy at work. Thank goodness. I am the only designer so that can be stressful, and I'm working on a project where I'm having to clean up the mess of the other designer that left us a few months ago. This project is a renovation of an old hotel in Jackson, MS (The King Edward Hotel) to a Hilton Garden Inn. So between the odd spaces, working with the historical society, and with Hilton themselves it can get very stressful. One of my projects is the Bear Mountain State Park in New York. This has been fun to work on, except for having to stay on top of the budget and account for every little dollar. The client we are doing this with is one of my favorite clients, so it makes it more enjoyable. Next week I am off to my monthly trip to work in Richmond. I had about 3 weeks between visits this time which was more than it has been. UP until now there hadn't been a week since Thanksgiving that I hadn't traveled, so I was a little wore out. Well, I better sign off as I think John is wanting to get on the computer and watch Vanderbilt basketball online. GO Vandy!

I can't believe I'm doing this...

WELL, I'm not sure how long this will actually last, BUT I thought I would try my hand at blogging... Will I ever have time? Probably not. Should I be doing something else? Absolutely! Will I keep up with it? Again, Probably not, but you never know.

I was trying to think of ways to share my video's the easier, so this came to mind. I have read other people's blogs that I went to school with and they are always so witty and creative. Mine will be boring I'm sure...

I didn't have to travel this week, thank goodness. And next week is looking good for me to not travel. But the first week of March I am supposed to go back to Richmond. However, I am not about to complain as I am thankful for having a job still.

John is beyond frustrated about the lack of responses he's received from the 40 or so resumes he's sent out. The problem, as everyone knows, is that NOBODY is hiring. We are thankful that I am presently still working full-time and that we have a savings should we need it. We are going to go ahead and pull Hutson out of daycare in two weeks, and if John is able to find a job soon, the school has told me that Hutson would have a spot. He is loved there as it seems he puts his horns away and puts on his halo as soon as we walk thru the doors.

Tanisha got her report card and she got 2 B's, the rest A's. I know, I know, we should be ecstatic and we are, but we know she is capable of all A's. She is so used to be in classes where she doesn't have to spend much time applying herself, but we moved her into the advanced Literature and Reading class. So she has to learn that she has to take more time and can't breeze thru it and it be an easy A. She's involved again in drama and part of play that they will do in a couple of weeks.

Well, off to me doing things that I really should be doing... or maybe I'll just read a book ;) I wish, but I do have some work that needs to be done tonight to be ready for tomorrow. Here's a couple of pictures to leave you with...