November...

Well, as some of you may know, a joyous event happened almost 2 months ago. I put in my resignation at the hospital(Piedmont, in down town Atlanta), which turned out to be a change in position. I went from a part-time sonographer to a PRN, which just means I work when needed and when it works for me. I also got a new job at the hospital here in Douglasville as a PRN sonographer. It is so nice to have a little bit of a change. I like both hospitals and each has it's own good points, but I do have to say it is so nice driving only about 15 mins to get to work as apposed to at least 45 mins. Since I was doing training at the new hospital our lives, mine, Kobie, and Cole's, have been busy and tiring. The last two weeks I worked everyday. Don't get me wrong I am grateful for the jobs that I have but it is hard going from two days to five days of work.
Well this week of Thanksgiving was very much anticipated because Kobie is out of school all week and Corey is home all week. It hasn't turned out quite the way I thought it should. It started with Cole coming down with a fever Friday night. We had plans to go out with friends on Saturday because it had been a while, for both Corey and I and our friends, since we had been out without kids. We canceled since Cole's fever still hadn't gone away. Long story short I took him to the ER late Sunday night, early Monday morning however you want to look at it. We just felt like we couldn't wait for the doctor's office to open anymore that's why we took that lovely trip. While there in the ER Cole got a chest x-ray and his blood drawn. I am very grateful that the nurse was so good. She did have another nurse there helping hold Cole down but she only had to stick him once. After she said that he did better than most men, oh and he had to watch like he did when he got stitches this summer. After they left and we were laying back down Cole said (and in the saddest voice), "I didn't want them to put a hole in my arm. To pinch me and put a hole in my arm." It was so cute and sad at the same time. After a few hours of waiting, because that is the game you play in the ER(I'm not being rude, it's just true) they came back and said he had a virus and we just had to wait it out. Don't you just love viruses. I think that day was the first time all weekend but I guess it was Monday then, that he acted like his normal self. Now we are just trying to get his nose to dry out. Last night because of his nose draining down the back of his throat he started coughing and couldn't stop. Which in turn lead to the revisit of dinner. Just a little piece of information, don't get a sick kid a hot dog or corn dog because they are not fun to clean up. I have had that sad misfortune twice. I am cured of wanting a dog for a while.
Another great piece of news we got last week is that Corey's last week traveling to New Orleans was last week, at least for a while. I am very grateful that Corey has a good job but I am very glad to have him home. I know that we will both have some adjusting for the first few weeks, he is not use to having noisy kids around or anyone for that matter. I have to get use to him staying up later than me, he is a night owl and I am not. I have joked with friends that while he was traveling I was a married single mom. I have to tell you there is no one who works harder than a single mom. I got a little taste of it and I have a new respect for them and military families. I have so much to be grateful for and am so blessed with great family and friends. Happy Thanksgiving.

Halloween Part 2

The boys decided that they didn't want to be Cosmo and Timmy for the real Halloween day. It is so nice to have a dry run. We wanted to make sure that Kobie had a good time since he didn't really enjoy his costume for the Truck or Treat. Every day last week I would ask what they wanted to be every day it was different. Finally on Wednesday they decided that they both wanted to be Sonic the Hedgehog, from the video game. Thursday I was going to buy the material to make the costumes. Cole woke up on Thursday and the first thing out of his mouth was, "I want to be Diego." For those of you who don't know who Diego is, he is Dora the Explorers cousin. And if you don't know who Dora is you must live under a rock.
I was very happy about Cole wanting to be Diego, since he wears a blue shirt and pants. All I had to do was make a little vest and the rescue pack, which didn't take long at all. When Corey got home from New Orleans that night, 6:00, I was just starting to lay out the material for Kobie's costume. After looking at everything I asked Corey if we could go get Kobie a costume so I wouldn't have to stress out trying to get it done. So Kobie wasn't Sonic he was Darth Vader. He was so jazzed about it and could not wait for the next day, Halloween.

Things in Georgia start earlier than I am use to. We had trick or treaters at 5. At which point the boys ran up stairs to get their costumes on. We went to a friends house to start out the night. They had hot dogs for the kids, or anyone else who wants them, chili and then the rest of us bring treats to share. It is always fun, we went last year too. This year we had a little incident. Cole, our 3 yr old, threw a rock at Kobie, our 7 yr old and chipped his tooth. We were so upset. His tooth isn't as bad as it could be so we are greatful for that. But we had a firm talk with Cole about not throwing rocks or anything else at Kobie or anyone else. After it started to get dark we came back to our neighborhood and went trick or treating around our block. Oh my it was cold and the kids were fun to watch.Diego and Darth.Kobie as Darth Vader.
Cole as Deigo.

Since last week was a little crazy for us we didn't get a chance to carve our pumpkins before Halloween. So for an after church activity we carved them tonight. So it is a little late but it is the memories that I want the kids to have. They each chose their pumpkin and how they wanted the face, but I of course did the knife work.
We hope everyone had a Happy and Safe Halloween.

Cole of course had to try on Kobie's Darth Vader Costume, we thought that this picture was great.

Halloween Part 1

In church I now have the joy of being the activities committee chairman (woman). Here in Georgia we throw a pretty big bash, trying to keep up with the other churches in the area, since it is a good missionary opportunity. This year we had a moon jumper, a big blow up slide, pop corn machine, and cotton candy, not to mention the other carnival type booths(fishing pond, cake walk,etc.). It was my job to rent the jumpers, cotton candy and pop corn machines. That is not my cup of hot cocoa. The day of the big bash, October 25, I was going to meet the delivery guys at the church. They were supposed to call 30 mins before they got to the church. The call I got when I was at Target, which is about 2 mins. away from the church, was that the guys were at the church. I told them that I would be there in about 5 mins., I needed to check out. That was about 12:30.
Set up went fine and we were on our way home about 3:00 or 3:30. Our Party was to start at 6:00 so we were going to be there at 5:30 to make sure we started on time. Oh, this was a combined ward activity, so the other ward in our building was helping out too.
We had a few hiccups but all in all it turned out really well. I ended up doing the cotton candy for our wards time slot, I think my helper forgot they were helping. If you haven't ever made cotton candy count yourself lucky. It wasn't that bad but boy does it get all over you. I had it in my hair, all over my arm and it got caught in my eyelashes. Now I understand why it tastes so good, it is a labor of love to make.
The boys had a great time. Thankfully while I was being covered with spun sugar Corey was there to help with the boys. He and his friend went to the Weezer and Angels and Airwaves concert that night. Yes, I was a little jealous since those are both good bands but there will always be next time.
The kids had a hard time deciding what they wanted to be for Halloween. Cole wanted he and me to be Cosmo and Wanda from Nickelodeon's Fairly Odd Parents. It is a little show about a kid with 2 fairy god parents. And yes you guessed it, Cole and I were the Fairies. We made the wings and wands and look pretty cute. Kobie finally decided, that day of the party, that he wanted to be Timmy Turner the kid that has the fairy god parents. So we went as a trio. When we got there Kobie was a little shy or embarassed by it because the kid wears a pink hat. Oh well, we all still had a great time. We were all very tired and exhausted when it was all over and we got home.

Timmy Turner, Cosmo, and Wanda.

We love Halloween

It has been a while but we are all doing well in the Barker household. The boys are so excited for Halloween. It is a week away but we still don't know what Kobie what to be. Cole and I are going as a couple, Corey will be at a concert for our ward trunk or treat, so we (Cole and I) will be a pair. We are going as Cosmo and Wanda, from Nickelodeon's Fairly Odd Parents. It is about a kid who has 2 fairy godparents, Cosmo and Wanda. So Cole and I will have wings and wands, I know that it sounds a little weird for a boy but it is a boy fairy and Cole is really excited about it.
for us to do. I love finding cute things on the A couple of weeks ago Kobie was out of school on Monday and Tuesday so I wanted to find something fun to do with the boys. We were going to go on a hike but it was raining. I didn't think that the kids would like to be cold and wet. So I found some cute Halloween crafts on the internet. The kids had a great time making the garland. And I had a great time making the pretty, sparkly pumpkin. Hey, what can I say? I am a girl I like sparkly things. Have a Spooktacular Halloween.

The bad thing about my cute pumpkin is that it leaves all the glitter on the floor. Oh well that is the price I pay for having a cute little pumpkin.

Vitamins that make you sick?

I know that vitamins or supplements are supposed to help you and make up for what you are lacking. But every time I take mine, which you can tell is so often and consistent, they make me sick. Last time I got the flu this time I have a chest cold. I am not complaining I just think it is rather interesting.
There hasn't been too much going on here. Oh but one exciting thing happened this last weekend. Corey's parents came to visit this past weekend we had a wonderful time. Rick and Sherrie had the joy of experiencing the lines for gas. Here in Georgia we are going through a gas shortage since the last hurricane, but it has just recently gotten really bad. The news has said that we should be back to normal mid October. So we have been combining errands as to not waste gas.
The kids are doing well. Kobie is doing really well in school. He is our little genius. His is testing above his grade level. After I found that out I thought I need to start working with Cole like I did with Kobie. Granted Cole is his own little person, I still want to give him every opportunity. A couple weeks ago we were all in the car going some where. The kids start talking about different animals. Cole says, "Rattlesnakes live in asthma." After a second of confusion I asked do you mean Arizona, and that is what he was trying to say. Then he said something about rattlesquirrels. I don't know what those are either but he was sure excited about them.

Birthday, the flu, and cultured boys

Today is my birthday and I am off from work, oh blessed day!!!! I got to go to breakfast with some girlfriends. I took a cute, little date (Cole). Corey asked if he wanted to stay home with him but he didn't want to. Before we left we went over some ground rules. I told him that he couldn't run around and that he needed to act like he was at church, reverent. So maybe it is not the best thing to equate with a restaurant (reverence), but it worked. He was quite good for the duration that we were there. And a little ham one thing he does best. I was great to spend some time with women that I admire and look up to.
Another reason why I was looking forward to today is that it is half day at school. So I get to spend a little extra time with my little men. Cole has decided that we are having Stevi-B's for lunch but I am trying to talk him into a picnic at home. Stevi-B's is a pizza buffet for any of you who don't know. And they have an awesome baked potato pizza and let me say that it is NOT on any diet, but oh so yummy.
I am having a chill day because I came home from work last night with an achy body and chills. While the little ones watched a movie I got in the tub to soothe the muscle aches. When I got out I checked my temp it was 102. How sad it is to be sick on your day off. I feel much better this morning just a little tired. It seems that this like this happen to me all the time, Murphy's Law. And as luck would have it Corey had to go into work. This isn't the first time he has had to go in on a day off. He was quite frustrated last night and said that he won't do it again.
On to the cultured boys. Both Kobie and Cole have gone through a phase were they like watching Sleeping Beauty. It maybe that there is a prince and dragon in it, but it is cute to watch them watching it. I also think it is perfectly healthy for little boys to be exposed to princesses because that is who they will be looking for one day. I know that I found my prince. Plus there are enough truck, cars, and trains in our house to open a toy store. We love boy toys!

A week with Dad

As some of you know Corey has been working weekly in New Orleans. With it being hurricane season and Corey down in the action zone we have been paying close attention to the weather. Well this last week Corey got to stay in Atlanta because of Gustav. Oh, how happy I was and am to have spent more than 2 days with him. Well as of right now he is going back tomorrow morning, Monday, but we will be waiting and watching(Hurricane Ike) to see if he needs to quickly flee. Thankfully he and his colleague rent a car, so if they do have to leave they can on their own time frame.
Since Corey was home this week we got some projects done...well, ok we got the front yard in shape and I do have to say we have more curb appeal now. Thank you Honey! It's great to have a man in the house and to be able to cook for him.
The "little men" are doing great. Cole is really starting to come out of the tantrum toddler stage, which is fabulous when in public since he's as big as a 5 yr old. Kobie, this week finishes off his first quarter of the school year. WOW that has gone by fast. He has a 1/2 day on Friday for parent teacher conferences and that is great since I took off for Grandparents Day. Well not really, it's my birthday. It's kind of fun to have my birthday be on grandparents day. What a fun little piece of trivia, Grandparents day is on Sept 12. Well sorry about my tangent and getting back to Kobie. He has had a great school year thus far. He is quite the little studier and a great student. He has had 4 spelling tests and has aced all of them. I couldn't be happier, since spelling was not my strongest area in school.

I love being a mom and all the challenges and joys it brings. It is amazing even still how two little people from the same parents can be so different. They certainly do have their own spirits and I love each more than I thought possible.
This is what we do when Corey is home, crash on the couch.

The Georgian Jungle and "Shrooms"

Before I start about this week's excitement I just want to clarify on my last post. I included a video of what husbands should not say to their wives. Corey, if any of you are wondering, has NEVER said anything like this at all. He is a wonderful husband, father, and friend; I am grateful to have him in my life. : )
Now about the "jungle". I was cutting our grass this summer until about 6 weeks ago when I promised Corey that I wouldn't touch the lawn. He was just trying to be caring and didn't feel like his wife needed to do that. He was going to have one of the young men that he works with at church do it. But between kids being sick and the Barker adults being sick we hadn't lined anything up. The last time it was cut was when my sweet dad cut it when he was visiting from Las Vegas. I know that sound sad that dad did it on his vacation. Mom said that he was happy to do it and I greatly appreciated it. Anyway...I broke down yesterday morning and did it while Corey was at a church obligation. Here is a picture of the jungle that was growing at our house. You've got to love fertilizer and the rain. I have not watered our lawn this summer at all.
While mowing our "jungle" I came upon lots of bugs, one REALLY BIG and UGLY spider, and mushrooms. There was a mushroom that was at least a foot long. I took a picture of it with Cole so that you could see it in perspective.
So, three and a half hrs later we had a normal looking lawn. It was fun to get the little boys out helping. That is one of my challenges as a mothers, trying to teach them how to work and enjoy it. I've heard that a lazy mom does all the work, meaning instead of trying to teach your kids you do it all. I love being a mom and all of it's challenges. I told Corey this week that lately I've really enjoyed watching the kids and the way they play and how different they are from each other. I'll end with this...my two greatest accomplishments are being married to Corey and being a mom to two great little men.

Ningines, cars...and being in a house full of boys

This past week when Cole and Corey were talking about cars Cole said something about the engine, but he called it a ningine. It is the cutest thing to hear. I love the little things that kids say and come up with. Since Corey is such a car fanatic he has passed that on to our little ones, it is awesome to see them all get excited over cool hot wheels and real hot rods. We have taken them to a couple car shows here and they all love it, I go to spend time with them but it doesn't have me jumping for joy to see the new BMW or Auddi, but I do love all my men.
Last week was pretty uneventful which I don't have a problem with. We are just trying to get into the school routine. But since Kobie is such a good little student it is not too hard. He tries to get most of his homework done on Monday, I think it is just that he like to do it and get it done. He is also a great little reader.
I do have to say though, I love being a mom of boys. It is fun to wrestle and play tag with them. I played trains with Cole yesterday for a while when Kob was at school. We haven't gotten the trains out in a while and it was fun. I have been trying to do more fun things with him while Kobie is in school. Especially since last week he prayed for daddy to stay home and mommy to go to work. When I told Corey that night I of course cried. It didn't help that I was sick so I sounded pretty pathetic. The boys just miss their dad when he is gone and I know that that is what it was.
One exciting thing I am doing next week is going to New Orleans to visit Corey. That is where he has been working since May and will probably be there till November or December. My only saving grace is that he comes home on the weekends. I am grateful that he has a great job and am grateful that he is willing to work hard for our family. But I am going down for our Anniversary. I can't believe it has been 8 beautiful yrs already. I look forward to 8 more beautiful yrs and more. That is our excitement for the week. Since we are celebrating our anniversary I thought that I would add this cute little song about what husbands should not say to their wives. Enjoy!

The first week of school and ... strep throat

Yeah! We made it through the first week of school. Kobie really likes his teacher and I think he has a little crush on her. Tuesday night I told them, the boys, that they needed to have baths. Kobie says, "Yeah, I don't want to be stinky for Ms. Backus." I thought that it was really cute. Wednesday Kobie got his cast off and said his arm felt wiggly.
Moving on to Corey. The poor guys has been travel weekly to New Orleans since May for work. Last Sunday he went to the doctor and found out he had strep. Unfortunately he had to leave that night, Delta didn't have a flight out on Monday morning, every other week they have but not last week. Then Wednesday morning he woke up in the hotel room with Pink Eye. He was coming home on Wednesday but came home a few hours earlier. He got to stay home from work on Thurs and Friday, since he was a "hot mess" had fun with the boys. It was really great to spend a few extra days with him. And last night we went out to the ward game night for adults. I was in charge since I'm the activities chair for the ward. It was a lot of fun. Oh boy, I thought that one of the teams was going to kill me. We were playing Pictinary and I didn't hear some of the answers from a team, but they ended up winning any way.
Well I had to go to the doctor today. I thought that I had just a cold but it turned out to be strep but my throat never hurt. And he said that my chest sounded tight so I may get bronchitis. Isn't that just lovely. So I left the doctor's office with 5 scripts, my counter looks like a pharmacy. I will go since my last posting was a book. We will check in later this week.

Our eventful summer!

Well today summer official ended. Kobie started 2nd grade. I can't believe that I have a child old enough to be in 2nd. He was and still is very excited about school. He came home and said, "I think Mrs. Backus is the best teacher I've ever had." I know that he is in good hands. My girlfriend who works at the school, a 2nd grade teacher also, said she chose Mrs. Backus as a teacher for her boys.

Back to the summer part. We went through the summer daddy-less from Monday through Thursday. We would wake up early and take Corey to the Airport on Monday. And I would pick him up Thursday night on the way home from work. We filled our time with going to the "free family film festival" at the mall, usually on Tuesday. We went to the library. It was great, I read the boys Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the beginning of the summer. I had never read the book, I had seen the movies but never read the book. Just a little piece of information, the new movie with Jonny Depp is more like the book than the original with Jean Wilder. So after we finished the book we rented the new movie. I know what we are going to get Cole for his birthday or Christmas. He sang the silly songs from the movie for weeks after we watched it.
One weekend when Corey was home we tried going to the Six Flags White Water Park. About 30 mins after we got there there was a crack of lightning, so we had to get out of the water. Shortly there after it started pouring rain. Well since the park was closed for over an hour we got rain checks to come back for another day. We decided that Kobie's birthday would be the perfect time. It was on a Friday and Corey and I had both asked for it off.
Well the Monday of the week of Kobie's birthday I worked to help them out. My friend needed the day off so I helped her out. When I picked up the boys that afternoon Gina, our sitter and good friend, said that Kobie had an accident. I thought "He is almost 7 he hasn't had an accident in a long time." Then she proceeded to tell me that when they were outside playing he trying tricks. He has been in to doing tricks lately. He went down the wet slide on his feet into the little pool. I don't know if he was going to fast but he was saying that Cole got in his way. So we thought that he sprained his wrist because it wasn't really swollen or bruised. Well Tuesday he was babying it and I thought he didn't need to. Needless to say mom got frustrated with him and told him to just use it because it wasn't hurt. Then after that I felt bad and sat down with him and looked at it. That's when I saw that it was swollen not bruised though and you could feel the extra fluid down in his wrist. I felt really bad then and didn't quite know what to do, never having any experience with broken bones before. And that night I was to go to the temple and drive my friend up with me. Well my mom said to call his doctor so I set the appointment up for the next morning. When the doc came in he said with the amount of swelling 2 days later it was most likely broken.
So we made the trek up the Piedmont, the hospital I work at, because the radiologist I work for are great and I knew I would be able to talk to them. Sure enough it was broken, a small little "buckle fracture" in his left radius, the thumb side bone. Corey and I felt bad because we had planned to go to the water park and now we wouldn't be able to. Kobie got his cast on Thursday, the day before his birthday. When we were the PA we saw said there is a waterproof cast or a regular one. I asked, since Corey was out of town, about the water park. She said with the waterproof it would be ok but no crazy rides. So we did end up going but left early because after all day of being there the afternoon lifeguard told Kobie he couldn't ride the kid's rides which he had been doing all day. Long story short we have comp tickets to go back after he gets his cast off, which is on Wednesday, or next season. But he had a great birthday other than that and his wrist has really hurt him other than the day it happened.
Moving on to Cole. About 2 weeks after Kobie broke his arm Cole got stitches. We were at church and I was sitting in my class and heard Cole cry. I thought "hmm, that is Cole. He must not have gotten the seat he wanted." But he didn't stop crying, all this took about 10 seconds to register. So I decided to go check on him. He was in the bathroom with his Sunday school teacher, the bathroom is real close to my class. His teacher had his hand under the cold water and I saw the little purple line diagonal across his little (pinky) finger. I thought ok he get his finger smashed but he was crying a little harder than normal. When his teacher would bring his finger out of the water it looked liked there was some blood but I couldn't see where it was coming from since there wasn't a cut on the top where the bruise was. I decided to flip his hand over and that is when I saw the gash. You would think that since I work in the medical field I would be fine with the blood. Oh no that was not the case. I started to panic and felt like I was hyperventilating. That could also be because I was on call the night before. Well we went and found Corey, he wasn't where he usually is for class, so it took a minute and in the process I disrupted another class, oh well. But Corey took him and I ran back to get my purse but the time I got back to the car, it had only been a maybe 2, Corey had him calmed down and he wasn't crying. Corey told me to stay and take Kobie home, we drive to church seperately because Corey has meetings before church starts. I went back in and started to cry and shake because I was worried about my baby. He turned out just fine. The big little man got 5 stitches and watched the doctor sew him up. After the ordeal was over they gave him a little teddy bear, which he lovingly named Fluffy Snot Monster. Boys will be boys. His stitches came out this last Wednesday. He cried and screamed while the doctor did it and while I was holding him still. Later I asked him if he cried cause it hurt, he said no he was just scared.
After everything that happened we are all doing fine and ended the summer off with a big bang, Grandma and Grandpa Shupe (my mom and dad) came to visit. We had a great time. We went and picked blueberries one day. Went and fed the ducks another day. After the kids went to bed we would watch a movie or do a puzzle, both a Shupe favorite. We were very sad to see them go. We loved having them in our home and spending time with them. We appreciate all that they do for us and are grateful they are our parents. So with summer at a close we look forward to an exciting new school year and hope it will bring new experiences and growth with them, hopefully not physical growth on my part.

In the beginning...

I thought that this would be a good way for family and friends to keep us with our family, but I wanted to start from the beginning.
It all started on a beautiful, hot August morning in Las Vegas. Corey and I got married in August of 2000, it is hard to believe it has almost been eight years. Then in July of 2001 we welcomed our cute little, o.k. big, Kobie. For any of you that are counting no he was not a honeymoon baby.
After finishing school and working a little bit, I went to part time. And in December of 2004 we had our cute little Cole. At that time Corey was working on finishing his Associates at CCSN, Community College of Southern Nevada. He finished in May and then we had to decide where to go to school. We chose to come to Atlanta and go to Emory.
It has been a wonderful experience and adventure for all of us to be out here. We have come to depend on each other more. We have had many visitors (Mom & Dad Shupe, Mom & Dad Barker, Paul & Katherine, Uncle George) and welcome anyone who wants to come.
This summer Corey started on a project at work where he travels weekly. It was to be for 12 weeks but keeps getting extended. We are grateful that he has a great and steady job but we do miss him. The boys and I are doing ok for the amount that he is gone. Last night I was suffering from some insomnia and thought, "Oh I should start a blog, that will be a great outlet." This will be good for me to work on my lacking computer skills. Well I better go and make dinner for my little men.