Achoo!!

So, BoyBoy's school is closed tomorrow for swine flu.  Okay, I get it.  They are closing so that they can give the school a good old fashioned deep clean in the hopes of kicking the swine flu's butt.  Only problem is...Friday's are always MY day.  Why didn't they ask me?  I have a few things I wanted to do on Friday.  I am busy!  I need my toes done, I am getting a massage to try and remove my shoulders from my ears, and I have a mentoring session with a local photographer.  How am I supposed to do that with a BoyBoy hanging around?  Don't get me wrong, I love me some BoyBoy time, snuggling on the sofa, watching movies together, etc, but I adore ME time almost as much.  I have been looking forward to this mentoring session for a while and was hoping to gain insight into how to market my new business and find some ways to grow my little seedling.  This photographer has graciously offered to sit down with me and answer my questions, hand out advise, and basically just nosh about the local photography business.  She is a great photographer and I love her work and I know she will be a wealth of information for me.  Why didn't the school consult with me first?  Plus, I really need my toes done...

Foto Friday

Foto Friday

Foto Friday

Happy Memorial Day

Today I am grateful for every soldier's sacrifice.  

And I am proud of my soldier and my son.

What the?

Awakened this morning by a 7 am phone call from the school system.  Two hour delay due to. . .

fog.

Yep, welcome to Virginia, folks.  Where we cancel school if they even forcast a 10% chance of snow and we sleep in if there is a wee bit of fog.  And, to add insult to injury, Wednesdays are always short days due to teacher planning time.  So, BoyBoy will go to school for an hour, eat lunch, and come home.  Whew!  What a grueling day for a young lad of 11.  He might need a nap when he gets home.

Meanwhile, Wheezer doesn't have enough time to workout and go to the tanning place (don't want my fellow cruise mates to fall overboard from my blinding white thighs!).  Shoot, there isn't even enough time to go to Old Navy for the third time this week.  Rats!  

There was time, however, to snuggle under the covers with BoyBoy and watch SpongeBob!  Don't say I don't enrich my child at home!

Wheezer + Bubba = BoyBoy

Bubba, BoyBoy and I had an interesting conversation over dinner a few nights ago.  I can't remember how we got on the subject but we began discussing which of BoyBoy's traits he had gotten from me and my side of the family and which he had gotten from Bubba and his side.  It was fun to banter back and forth...my eyes (brown), Bubba's lips (full and yummy), neither of our hair color (mine: blonde, Bubba's: dark brown, BoyBoy's: light brown).  Then, we started delving a little deeper.  Sense of humor:  both of us, dry wit:  Bubba, stubbornness:  both of us, tendency to cry at the drop of a hat:  mine.  BoyBoy liked very much that he was almost equal parts from both of us.  He also liked that there were many traits that he got from both of us.  Those are the ones that are strongest in him, like his sense of humor.  Also, his stubbornness, his anal retentiveness, his how can I make the world better-ness.  He got his overwhelming intelligence from my dad (that one obviously skips a generation!).  His ability to see whats wrong with a situation and attempt to make it right he got from Bubba's side.  His computer smarts from Bubba and my dad (again, generation skipper).  He is sensitive like me, acutely aware when someone is upset and quick to get his feelings hurt.  I truly believe that the genetic soup that Bubba and I stirred has set BoyBoy up for a great life.  He will have to choose which family traits to work on and nurture and which will need careful managing.  It is a scary thing to think that you have passed your bad traits on to your child.  You hope that you are able to show him the way that will make him the best person God wants him to be.  

Kind of daunting...but we are giving it our best shot.

Happy Heart Day!

I have the best husband and son on the planet!

Small Victories

BoyBoy has not always been a fan of the beach and water.  He never stepped on sand willingly until he was four and declared that his four year-old feet liked the sand.  He was also one of those kids who was afraid of water.  This was hard for me because I want to live at the beach, hang out at the beach, ride waves at the beach, have my ashes scattered at the beach when I die...you get the picture.  

Bubba and I have put him in swim lessons every chance we have gotten and he does well but we have never felt that he was a strong enough swimmer to be allowed to swim with out us there, in the water with him.  Finally, when we moved here, my sister told us about the "stroke" team that operates within my niece's swim club.  It is a non-competitive team that focuses on stroke technique and building endurance.  We signed him up and WOW!  All of a sudden we have a fish on our hands.  

I can't tell you how this makes me feel.  Of course, I am so proud of him.  He is conquering his fears every time he jumps in the water.  He perseveres even when they are working on the dreaded butterfly.  He smiles at the end of every length of the pool.  And he is improving in leaps and bounds.  I also am a little sad.  He won't need to hold my hand any more when we jump the waves.  He doesn't hold his nose anymore when he goes under - a habit that I find adorable.  He is becoming such an independent little man.  

Boy, life goes by pretty fast...

Five Gallons of Fun?

It has been a tragic week here at the Cheeze household.  Santa gave BoyBoy a fish tank for Christmas with a gift card to the local pet store to pick out his fish.  He was so excited to set up his tank and then waited patiently for the recommended 24 hours to go get the fish.  We went to the store and he was careful not to overspend.  He picked out 4 guppies, two blue and two orange (shocker!), a small African Dwarf frog, and a snail.  We brought them home, along with some foliage and a Roman ruin tank statue and set them free in their new environment.  Names were considered - Speedy for the snail because he covered some serious ground that first day, Bounce the frog, Cavalier for one of the blue guppies, Gator for the other, Wahoo for one of the orange fish and the last one remained No Name until we could find a suitable name.  BoyBoy was careful to feed them regularly (maybe too regularly according to the fish guy at the store) and, in all his computer expertise, decided to start a blog about his aquarium.  Five Gallons of Fun was born and he was all set to document the lives of his new pets.  Then, tragedy struck...

No Name started listing on his side and quickly went to the big fish pond in the sky.  He was followed quickly by Gator.  I ran an emergency trip to the pet store where it was determined that they had died of ick and we needed to treat the tank immediately to save the rest of the fish.  Antibiotics were started and fingers were crossed.  Wahoo and Cavalier seemed to rally and we thought we had diverted a disaster.  We were wrong.  Cavalier lost his will to live the next day and Wahoo hung in there for one more after that.  

A moment of silence for our beloved fish...

So, it is with much hope and a lot of prayer that we have started over.  We restarted the tank with only Bounce and Speedy and we will wait a week and have the tank tested before we introduce any fish.  I don't know if BoyBoy will continue his blog.  He was devastated to say the least and is hesitant about getting his hopes up.  Bubba and I kept telling him that it was okay to say "This SUCKS!"  We don't normally encourage this type of language however, we felt that this situation warranted it.  Four fish dying in three days...SUCKS!  BoyBoy kept saying, "No, its ok, I don't need to say that."  And then, on day three, when he woke up to Wahoo floating on his side, he yelled at the top of his lungs, "FISH SUCK!!!!"  

Wish us luck...

Foto Friday

Happy 11th Birthday, BoyBoy!!!

Out of the mouths of babes...

Waitress to BoyBoy:  What would you like, young man?

BoyBoy:  Schooner Burger with fries, hold the tomato and lettuce, please.

Waitress:  There are onions on that, do you want the onions?

BoyBoy:  Onions, yes.

Waitress:  Wow, you really know what you want!  You are like a little man.

BoyBoy:  Yea, I get that a lot.

He's Ready

This past weekend, Bubba and I took BoyBoy to an open house at the school we hope to send him to next year.  This is the same school where I went to middle and high school (back in the dark ages).  It is a private, college prep school with a fantastic reputation and a challenging curriculum.  It was weird for me to be back on those grounds.  I realized that I hadn't set foot on that campus since the day I graduated.  I haven't been back for homecoming or class reunions.  My excuse has been that we have always lived too far away and I knew that someday, I would be back.  

I hardly recognized the place.  It has grown in leaps and bounds since I graduated.  Where there used to be a small art room, there are now two huge art studios.  The gym where all the basketball games were played was called "The New Gym" when I was there.  Now it is the "Old Gym" and is swamped by the new gym complex.  There is a state of the art culture center with a auditorium that seats over 500, a new library complex with over 10,000 titles and 50 computers, the list goes on and on.  The percentage of graduating students who get into the college of their choice on the first try is 99% and the average amount of scholarships awarded to each graduating class is well over a million dollars. Bubba and I were impressed, to say the least.  

But what I think I was most impressed with was BoyBoy's reaction.  He seemed comfortable there.  He seemed excited to get started with the rest of his education.  He seemed ready for the challenges ahead and eager to move on with his learning.  This is the kid who hates change, with a passion!  There was a moment when I lagged back on the tour and watched him walk through the halls that I once haunted.  He looked so big, so grown up, so capable, so independent.  He's ready...I'm just not sure I am.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

At lunch today...

Wheez:  BoyBoy, would you like one of my onion rings?

BoyBoy:  Yes, thank you, Mother (as he grabs the largest one on my plate).

Bubba:  BoyBoy, why did you take the biggest one?

BoyBoy:  'Cause that is how I roll!

Foto Friday

One year ago...my how he has grown

Last Weekend of Summer

BoyBoy starts school on Tuesday. Last night was back to school night where kids and families get to go check out their classrooms, meet their teacher, and be bombarded with PTA stuff. I am always nervous for BoyBoy when he starts the new school year and especially nervous when he is changing schools. Will he make friends? Will he get lost going to the bathroom? Will he like his PE teacher? At his last school, he was president of the student council and when he walked through the halls, kindergardeners were awestruck, reduced to whispering and pointing. He was the BMOC. Now, he is back to being the new kid and I hate that for him. I know that he will be fine because he has his father's outgoing personality which serves him well in this military life. I don't think I would have fared as well if my father had been in the military. He will make friends and enjoy this year and then we have to go through it all over again next year for middle school. At least some of the kids will be moving to the same school with him and, the best part, he will be in the same school as his cousins.

So, what do we do to celebrate this last weekend of summer and new beginning? We will probably go ride roller coasters, eat seafood, and overall just relax and enjoy the weekend. We have spent most of the weekends this summer working on the new house and yard. We need to take a break from that and reflect on our journey this summer. Bumps in the road have been there but have been mild. The glories of living near my family are multiplying every day. We have been given our space when we need it and smothered with family when we don't and it has been great. Have I mentioned that it just feels right?

Happy school year to everyone! May you bring home A's and B's, new friends and old. May your days be filled with learning and growing and not too much homework!

Bonus Foto Friday

Geek Alert!!!

BoyBoy is in summer camp this week. Not just any summer camp - not my BoyBoy. Not football camp, soccer camp, swim camp or even Cub Scout camp. No, BoyBoy is attending Internal Drive Tech camp. That's right...Tech camp. But not just your ordinary computer camp, this camp is amazing! His course of study is Web Design and Flash Animation. He is learning how to create a website with original flash animation drawings and other details that I am not smart enough to understand. He is in computer geek heaven! Now, some might think that we are doing a disservice to BoyBoy by sending him to a summer camp that requires him to sit in front of a computer all day and not enjoy this wonderful, hot, humid insect-infected weather that we have been having, but this is not your ordinary computer camp. They go outside every day to play non-computer games - capture the flag, kickball, soccer, etc. They take walks to the historical part of town (the camp is at the College of William & Mary in the heart of Colonial Williamsburg) and they all are starring in the Video Editing campers' movie production. There will be a gaming tournament with the high scorer from each campsite across the nation competing for all the marbles. At the end of the week there is a showcase of all the campers projects for the parents to see. It has been great! He is floating on Cloud 9.0! Already he has asked to go again next year and next time he wants to sleep-away! I totally see his future summer job as a counsellor for one of these camps. He is, sorry I have to say it, a happy camper!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to every mother out there. It has been such a blessing for me to experience the joy, frustration, happiness, sorrow, love and fun of being a mom. Boyboy is not always the easiest child but I know that I am so fortunate to have a healthy, bright, funny child who worships the ground that Bubba walks on and loves me, warts and all. From the day Bubba and I found out we were going to have him, I have thanked God for the miracle that is Boyboy. He continues to amaze me every day with his wit, charm, and brains. I am trying hard to keep up with him and I hope that he still lets me hold his hand for many more years to come. Thanks, Boyboy for making me a mom. I love you.