Madelyn's 2nd Birthday Party

My mom flew in from FL on Friday evening so she could be here for Madelyn's birthday party. On Saturday morning around 9am we packed up the car and headed to Annapolis for the day. We had lunch with my mom, Chelley & Madelyn then did some last minute shopping for the party. The party was fun and all of the kids seemed to enjoy it. After the party we went to dinner with my mom and then hung out at Chelley's apartment for a little while. The three kids all played together so well.

Kyle

Some people that teach with Chelley and their kids

Kyle

Madelyn playing with the kitchen we gave her

We brought home the boys' baby car seat from Chelley this weekend. The boys both took turn laying in it and being a baby. Every time we bring something baby home they like to pretend to be babies although I think Zak is convinced he really is.

A week or so ago Ben brought home some stuff from one of his job sites for the boys to play with. They are started to really enjoy dressing up and pretend play...

Lots to Talk About

I wanted to show you a picture of the Halloweenies we had for dinner last week. We found the recipe in a little cookbook my mom sent me with various Halloween themed foods and snacks. They were really good, but took a good amount of time to make.

On Wednesday last week Ryder's bus driver gave both of the boys Halloween goody bags. The boys were so excited and I thought it was so sweet she gave one to Zak also!

Thursday morning Ryder went to school and I took Zak to his class at the Y. Ben and Rich took our dead car to the junkyard to get some money for it. Once Ryder was home from school he and Zak went with Rich for the day. We had found a possible van so we took that to a mechanic to have it checked over. While it was at the shop we continued to drive around and look at other used auto places. We stopped at a bunch, but did come across another possible car. Once the van was done we took it back to the dealership and headed back to test drive the other car. Ben and I both really liked the second car we found and discovered the insurance on it would be slightly less than the van.

On Friday the boys played in the leaves with some of the kids from our court...

Once Ben got home from work we headed out and bought a car!! We ended up with a 2004 Ford Explorer XLT. This SUV has a third row of seats which can be folded down flat to make more space in the back. I am so excited to have the car issue behind us and even more excited that we were able to find an SUV!!

Yesterday was Halloween and we had lots of fun! In the morning Ben took the boys to play basketball at the Y while I did laundry and packed for our day of fun. After lunch we headed to Rich & Laura's to see them for a bit. Rich was at work, but the boys got lots of goodies from Nanny and got to play with Haleigh. We left there and headed to Annapolis. The boys played with Joey and Jamison for a while. Then we had dinner and got the kids all dressed for Trick or Treating. Both of the boys had a blast Trick or Treating! Zak really took to it and was racing from house to house pointing out which ones has lights on and which ones didn't. They both did good at saying Thank You and would occasionally get our a Trick or Treat before digging into the bowl to pick out some candy. We headed home around 8:40pm and the boys were asleep by 9pm. They stayed asleep when we moved them into their beds once we got home.

Green pumpkin is chocolate

Blue pumpkin is non-chocolate

Today the boys and I went to the YMCA. I worked out for about an hour while the boys were in the "big playroom" aka the childcare room. Then we made a quick trip to WalMart. This afternoon we had Ryder's parent/teacher conference at school. Ben was able to get home in time to go with me so that was good. His teacher and speech therapist both said he is doing great. However, we did find out that Ryder is holding out on us at home. Apparently, he is one of the most social and verbal kids in the class! He answers questions appropriately, initiates conversation, makes requests, and plays great with the other kids. All of which he usually doesn't do at home. The teacher said normally they hear the reverse, many kids will be talkative at home and do skills at home that they won't exhibit in school. I am happy to know Ryder is doing so well in school, but now know we can't let him get away with certain things at home anymore. We now know he can answer questions and make requests so we will expect that from him at home too! They showed us some pictures he has made at school along with his "portfolio" which was mainly the results from his preschool skills evaluation. It shows what numbers, letters, shapes, and colors he identify along with other skills such as counting and coloring. He has a few shapes and colors he doesn't consistently identify and he is not identifying any numbers or letters yet.

Car Update

I didn't think it was going to turn out this way, but looks like we will be living with no car. Ben just got the call from the auto place that the car is dead. It needs a whole new engine which would cost more than what we paid for the car 2.5 years ago. Ben is trying to figure out how to get the car from the auto place to the junkyard so we can at least get money from it to cover the towing cost from last night. I am not sure how to even function without a car, but if anybody has suggestions let us know. How do you get groceries, pick up the kids from school if something happens, get to appointments and so on? I am going to look into cancelling Zak's class at the Y and Ben's volleyball at the Y since we won't be getting there anytime soon. Might also have to look into cancelling our membership.

I really wish tax time was closer...then we could get some sort of junk car to at least get around in. Another issue is that any car we do get our hands on needs to be big enough for us to all fit with the 2 car seats and of course automatic because I have failed at driving or attempting to drive stick shift cars several times.

Trying to remain positive...going to play with the boys and try to not think about it.

Stranded

Saturday morning we took the boys to have their hair cut. We took them to a new place which was all sports related so the boys loved it. They both did well for the haircuts. I like Ryder's end product, but not Zak's as much (different people cut their hair). Not sure if we will go back there or not.

Then we walked around Toys R Us for a bit looking at things for Madelyn and to get ideas for Christmas. We made a fun dinner which was scary face sloppy joes. It is a biscuit with sloppy joes & corn on top then a piece of cheese cut like a face. The boys loved it, but I could have done without the corn. After dinner we went for a walk around the community.

The earlier bedtime seems to be paying off. Saturday night they were in bed by 7:30pm and asleep by 8pm. Then they slept until about 7am this morning. Hopefully this will continue!

This morning the 4 of us went to the YMCA. The boys went to the childcare room while Ben & I worked out for an hour. Then we took the boys into the gym and played basketball for a while. We made a quick trip to the grocery and came home to watch football. Ryder took a nap in their bedroom and Zak laid on the couch for a nap with Robin.

After the Redskins game ended Ben took Zak to his mom's house for a sleepover because Ryder has an appointment at Kennedy Krieger in the morning. While he was gone Ryder and I did an art project and made dinner.

And now on to the title of the post...

While I was talking to Ben on the phone when he was on his way home from his mom's house bad luck struck. He said he had to go because the car was breaking down on 95! Eventually he called me back to say the car was on the side of 95 and not working. It started making a bad noise and driving oddly and then just stopped. The service engine light and others were on so it is not a dead battery. So I searched online and found a local towing company who seemed to be cheaper than others we found and called them. Ben called his mom to come pick him up. The towing company took the car to an auto shop in Joppa. Laura dropped Ben and Zak off at home and then Ben took his work truck to the auto shop to meet the towing guy with our car. He filled out the information for the key drop box. We won't know anything until tomorrow and they open at 9am.

So Zak is not having a sleepover and we will not be going to Ryder's appointment...or anywhere...hence the stranded title. I am upset about missing the appointment because we had already had to cancel and reschedule once. We have put a good amount of money into this car already, but we have no way of getting a new used car so we have no choice. I am praying that it is something that can be fixed without a high cost because we can't afford anything at the moment so starting a car payment is completely out of the question. I am hoping we are not left without a car because I have no clue how we would function....

So early bedtime tonight did not happen. Everybody is on edge and cranky. Hoping to get the boys asleep soon so I can get in the shower and try to calm down.....