Youtube

Summer break is officially over at the Hammond house. It's been a busy Monday already, but I can't believe how QUIET it has been! If you ask Zeke where Pantera went he will tell you "School bus" and ask if it makes him happy or sad he quickly replies "HAPPY!" I'm sure he is only happy because she is ;) To make the day even better, Zeke had therapy with "Mrs. Ham" this morning. He has been pretending to call her on my phone during the week. I love that he loves her and I totally get why. She has done such a great job getting into his world and brings new Cars items each session.
The other night I was having some pretty painful braxton hicks contractions. I had to sit down and put my feet up for a little bit. Amari came up to me and was (I thought) lovingly rubbing my belly. It was so cute the way she was taking care of me. Then Pantera came upstairs and asked if I was ok. I told her I was fine and that Amari was helping me. Pantera said "You know she is rubbing cheese on your stomach right?" Sure enough those sweet little rubs were her spreading cheese on me...I guess Jess is back in as birth coach.

Pantera has been counting down the days and hours until school starts since, well since school got out. She was up an hour early this morning, dressed and ready to go. She was talking a mile a minute, I honestly think the anticipation was worse then Christmas morning for her. I'm glad she loves it and hope it lives up to her expectations! I jokingly told her that we should move to a different school district the other day and she flipped out, "I will run away! I will run back to my school where I belong!"

We were at a friends house last week, Pantera and their oldest daughter Mallory, wrote a song together and performed it for us. After the show, Mallory asked her mom why she can't record it and post it on YouTube. Her mom told her that it makes her uncomfortable. Mallory replied "But Pantera's mom lets her put videos on youtube!" I quickly told her that I would never let Pantera do that. She replied "but Pantera told me that she had a awesome video up, but we can't watch it, because it got deleted." Pantera is slowly walking towards the door this whole time and begins stumbling on her words "What I meant was, I WANTED to put a video on youtube." Uh huh...sure that's what she meant.

Hold me close now window dancer...

Time is flying by and I am barely keeping up! This past week Amari was teething yet again. I don't think I slept more than an hour at a time all week. Come Sunday, I was a zombie. We have 2 good nights in us now and a long nap today, I am feeling alot better about life. Amari's new favorite thing is dancing in our bay window. Pantera keeps her kids bop cd up there and Amari knows how to turn it on and does, several times a day. It is pretty hilarious to watch her shake her stuff. She is also becoming a pro at time out...I don't think I need to explain that one further.

Zeke started occupational therapy 2 weeks ago. I was worried about how he would connect with Mrs. Pam, because he is used to he speech therapist. Let's just say "Mrs. Ham" as Zeke calls her, would be a welcome addition to our family. She is like the perfect woman, she plays rough, brings cars toys, and knows all the names of his cars...to bad she's in her 30's and married. He has gone to the door several times and asked for "Mrs. Ham a pay" or Mrs. Pam to play. At bedtime tonight he was making one of his non disney cars talk to me "Hi, mama!" so I took it and drew a pair of eyes on it with a sharpie. HOLY COW, I have never seen a more thrilled kid in my life. He kept looking at it and laughing saying "eyes, eyes!" over and over, almost as if he was seeing for the first time...he's so funny.

Pantera is growing up way to fast. We were in the store the other day and I mentioned that we needed to buy her some new underwear. She quickly shushed me and told me I was embarassing her :( She's getting big. She was very happy when I caught her a butterfly the other day and even happier when it spent a little time on her finger before we released it. She said it makes her "feel like a princess!" She was telling me facts about the sun yesterday. One of them was "The sun is so hot, that you can't even put a foot on it. You would just turn into dust. Even the American flag would burn up!"

Baby Lightning

This last month has been crazy. Jess has only had one day off since the 4th of July. He was out of town for 3 of those weeks. It's hard to believe we have been living this crazy schedule for almost 4 years now. I am pretty lucky that he deals so well with the hours he works (98 hour work weeks blah!), he may not be so lucky because I have had a near mental breakdown this time around. I am so grateful that my parents are close and I even asked them for a little help the last week he was gone. I am so used to doing it all myself that asking seems like defeat to me...I'm working on it though. I should also thank my sisters for letting me call them and vent, so thank you husband, parents, and sisters you all are great. I know we are so blessed to have a good job.


My parents asked if Pantera could spend the afternoon with them after church today. I must admit I was happy to have "a piece of quiet" to quote Pantera. I made a couple new props for pics so I tested them out before I layed the little ones down for naps, then I edited uninterupted...it was heavenly.

Funny how after just a couple of hours away (or napping) and I have my patience back. I love my kids, they really are the best.

Zeke told me this morning that we should name the baby Lightning McQueen. I think that is lovely. He is starting to put words together! He said "Hurt foot" and "Tera time a church" today and I could understand him!!!

Amari is obsessed with going "bye-bye" with Papa. Everytime he walks into our house, she tells me bye and wants him to carry her to his car and pretend to drive. Then they come back inside and she greets me with a hug. She might just have him wrapped around her finger...only a little bit.

This is a Zeke approved photo. He likes that it highlights his favorite feature...

We are still playing the waiting game to find out who Pantera's 1st grade teacher will be. It is a different ballgame this time around because she actually knows them and has made it quite clear who she doesn't want to get (some of the teachers are "bossy" go figure). So keep your fingers crossed that we find out soon. And maybe that she isn't in Logan's class, cuz she thinks she is going to marry him and we all know how relationships can be with her. Here's to another drama filled year lol!

Basket case

I have always loved what a great mix of girlie girl and tomboy Pantera can be. She has been way into littlest pet shop toys (which she begged me not to tell her guy friends about) and catching toads. The other day she was in a cute dress and her high heels, catching toads. She is very loving with her creatures, unless they jump out of her hands, then she threatens to feed them to various animals. She even talks like an adult, you know that thing we do when we are trying to scare a kid into doing what they should and we ask questions like they aren't there, for example "Mom, what kind of bird would eat a really bad toad? Just wondering because I might have to feed this little guy to something if he jumps away again."
As for Ezekiel, he carries his cars around EVERYWHERE he goes. They are always lined up and looking at him as he sleeps. He is talking more. Today at lunch Pantera asked him if he wanted to see a magic trick, he replied "No, eat."

Speaking of the word "no" it's Amari's favorite. Yesterday she walked into the kitchen where Zeke and I were. She looks at him with her death glare and says "no!" This caused a huge fight, which made her pretty happy. She has been into picking out her own clothes, sometimes from other people's drawers. Tonight she picked a buzz lightyear shirt with a tutu. Besides fighting her current favorite activity is carrying around this little basket and getting "Guck" or stuck over and over again. She is one funny little girl.

Amy Winehouse

I'm not a big follower of celebrities, but I must admit I was sad to see the headline about Amy Winehouse's death. I didn't listen to her music or know much about her other than that she was an out of control drug addict. For some reason I always felt we were kindred spirits...ok maybe it was just her big hair, layers of eyeliner and Jewish nose. But I will miss those things about her and I may just spray my poof one extra time today in her memory.

Pantera was so kind to model for me today. I think I love my new lens.

Captain Sparrow

I walked into Pantera's room on Saturday night and ran out laughing. On her wall was a note that reads "Dear mom. I really need rest. Please allow me to sleep in." Honestly, what pregnant mother of 3, is going to wake their kids up earlier then needed on any given day?


Jess was out of town for 10 days. In that time I completed 3 paintings for a friend. This is my favorite one-although it's a little overexposed in the pic, it's so humid my camera keeps fogging up.

If I was a fan of the movie, I would keep this for my house, I really love the way it turned out. I tried some new techniques and am really excited to do more.