Easter Bunny Rohan Says:

"GOT EGGS?"

*This photo is the property of Eric and Samantha Spillman. Duplication without permission and compensation to Eric and Samantha will result in legal action 03-31-10

1st Zoo trip of 2010

With a high yesterday of 81, breaking the 131 year record for weather. It was HOT!! But the boys and i headed out to the zoo early so we missed any real heat. The boys had fun exploring some new animals, we usually don't see the hoofed animals, because, well, they are in the back, so it's a lot of walking. But we had nothing but time yesterday, so we took the path less walked. We got to see the hippo as she was submerged under water, and then as she poked her head up for water. Along with some strange half zebra and horse animals......Very odd.

They are expanding the zoo, and adding some elephants and other very cool animals, so they had the construction guys working, i had to laugh, here we are at the zoo, and they wanna watch the construction, oh wait, i have boys!! All in all it was a very fun day, we took a sack lunch and spent some time very good quality time, just me and my boys.

Day one of behing a SAHM......

Day one of being a stay at home mom went well. I had to take Aragorn to the doctor for an infection on his finger. But then we went to the park. The boys got to play until they told me they were ready to go home. I found one in our neighborhood, so from now on we can walk to it that will make things easy for me.

New House...........

This was our old house.....................

This is the new one!!!

Ryan.....

3 years ago today I lost one of the best friends I ever had.

I will not go into what happened, because the reason isn't important. What I will say is that perhaps we both lost our tempers and said some things we shouldn't have said.

I miss her for a lot of diffrent reasons, but mainly because she is the person I have known the longest aside from my mom. She knew me before I knew me. She helped me grow and learn she was always someone i could g to for advice. She was straight with me, she never sugar coated anything. If I wanted a straight answer i asked her. She was the one i got in trouble with and shared some of the most memorable moments with. Climbing the cherry tree on Downing to get to the most bitter sour cherries you have ever tasted, jumping over the fence to get to each other's houses, playing in the alley, walks to 7-11, playing in the car wash, sleepovers, TAR, playing in her huge house on Poplar, her move to Minnesota. Reconnecting after not speaking for a time, 1st trips to Vegas, Staying up all night, dancing, my wedding, tripe here just because, sharing with her the joy of being pregnant, and being one of the 1st people i called when i had Aragorn. planning her wedding. These memories are only a small portion of what i hold in my heart.

There is probably not enough sorry in the world to tell her, but i can only try. She has missed so much with Aragorn and as far as I know, doesn't even know about Rohan. We have missed so much in eachother's lives, that for us, should have been some of the biggest and most important moments. I have realized of late that, that the people you knew when you were young, are most likely the ones to stick in you in the future. I can only say:

Ryan if you read this. I am sorry. And I miss you.

Job gone......

I was laid off again on Thursday. The construction industry unfortunately is not picking up as they had hoped, and my position was no longer needed. Although i am sort of sad about this. I am also excited. Eric and i have talked, and we are going to see if maybe this can become permanent for me. But for now, I am excited to hang out with my boys. I am also happy the weather is getting warmer, I see a lot of trips to parks and the zoo and the museum.

Old friends are the best

Becky & Strut came into town on Tuesday on thier way to England and Paris. They took Kara Patterson for her 18th birthday/graduation gift. Making good on a promise they made to her when she was 7, if she went to college they would take her to England. We spent Wednesday evening with Becky and Stut as well as Kara and her mom Jean, and a bunch of other friends we hadn't seen in a while. It was wonderful to catch up with everyone. I got to talk to Kathy who I used to babysit for, her kids are in their early 20's. And Kara, whom I have known since she was Rohan's age, WOW where does time go? It was so weird to introduce Eric to people I have known since I myself was a kid. They all kind of chuckled when Becky reminded them I am a mom now too, and I know in their heads they also said WOW where does time go. It was an awesome dinner though, probably one of the best I can remember.

Just being cute

He's a rockstar

Get his autograph now folks..........it may be worth something someday

I now present to you............

Spring Time in Colorado

This afternoon before i left work

Hail on my street

Blowing sideways

Not enough to stay home yet

A quiet weekend……..

With Rohan having been sick all week, we decided to take a break this weekend and stay home hunkerd down in the basement and living room. My girls night got cancld on Saturday which was just fine with me, as I wanted to be home with my baby (missed my girls though). We also did not attend church Sunday. Rohan was on the mend, but needed sleep. We watched a lot of movies, and just relaxed. Aragorn and I spent some non-computer time yesterday doing some crafts. We painted window suncatchers, and he did some stamping. He thought it was pretty cool. I managed to get all of our laundry done, and put away (which as everyone knows, I am ALWAYS proud to annuounce) I think my laundry breeds when I am not looking. No more dark rooms for it!! All the dishes were done, and I managed to make a pretty darn tatsy chicken dinner. I like these days, as lately they seem so far and few between.

We hope you are all well.

Love,

The Spillmans

Sick.....

Poor Sick baby

Rohan has been sick all week with the flu. I Had to go get him at daycare on Monday and then Tuesday I was home with him. Eric was home Wednesday and Auntie B helped us out Today. He will stay home again with Eric tomorrow as he is still not 100% He is getting better though. Even dancing a little bit this evening.

Sleeping it off

He is on the mend, he asked for Mac & Cheese with Mickey Mouse

School....

I just read about this blog randomly on the news and I am going to start following her. I certainly remember better options at school when I was younger. This is sad. And what is this nonsense about NO recess? No wonder our kids are being diagnosed with ADHD ad ADD hand over fist. These kids don't have mental issues, these kids have sitting on their butts and not getting out issues. I remember when I was little, VERY little time was spent inside, and it surely wasn't spent on video games, or in front of the TV or computer. It's funny, I remember if given the option I WANTED to go outside. Mom and I had a very small TV that certainly didn’t scream to be watched. If I was inside, I played house, or school or barbies, I talked to myself a lot when I played, or I talked to the imaginary people I was playing with, thus gaining some language and communication skills. On even better occasions a friend would come over, and we never watched TV. We played, interacted with each other, and had fun. School was the same way. Recess was our break during the day, it was the adult equivalent of lunch hour. It was also the place where you met all the other kids and made friends. How are kids supposed to make friends, if they have no time to meet the other kids? I am not a fan nor have I EVER been a fan of Gym class, but it was needed, get the blood going work out a little, even if it was only playing with the big parachute in the gym. I realize that not all schools have cut recess, but they are cutting back. Recess used to be at least 45 minutes or so (including lunch) now how long is it? Maybe 30?

As a parent I am scared to death about what is going on in school's these days. I have seen the kids in my neighborhood as they walk home with suitcases (and I mean that literally) on wheels. This is insane to me. Not only do we have our children up and out the door standing at the bus stop, sometimes as early as 6 am. Teachers then bog them down with HOURS of homework. And I have to ask myself "Is it helping? are our children getting smarter? are they learning more?" I realize that teachers aren't to blame (at least I hope not) I realize that it's the government telling them what to teach and how. But I love my kids, and I want to spend time with them, how am I going to do that, have them be active in some sort of athletic activity (which is apparently necessary with no recess and only one gym class a week) have them active in church and still get the grades Eric and I hope they get to get into a good school?

It does no good to "Wage a war on Obesity" if you offer kids pizza, and chicken nuggets and CRAP for lunch, and then give them no opportunity to work off those calories. Pay attention Michelle Obama. FIX this!! And I mean fix it now!! There is no reason to make kids FAT in school and then blame the child or parent.

http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/2010_03_14_archive.html

RIP Peter......

Thanks for always choosing to accept the misson!!

4 Months............

WOW, I can not believe that it is only 4 months until our Summer vacation reunion with Lisa and Amber's family!!!

So i just have one thing to say:

Where's Rohan?

No, and I don wan to.

These are the only words Rohan seems to know right now.

"Rohan, please take off your shoes"
"No, I don wan to"

"Rohan, please come inside it's cold"
"No, I don wan to"

"Rohan, please stop growling at Aragorn, he says you are scaring him"
"Raaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhhhrrrrrrrrrrr"

Ok so maybe he knows one other word………….

RIP Corey......

Goodbye Corey

Another celebrity death on the heels of Brittany Murphy (Clueless) we have lost Corey Haim, best known ( I think) for his role as Sam in The Lost Boys. I will admit, I wasn't a huge fan of his. After all he wasn't in a ton of movies I have seen, but something about losing an actor only 8 years older than myself is a bit disheartening. I remember The Lost Boys was one of the 1st horror movies I had ever seen. I went with my neighbor Tina and some of her friends to see it at the Gothic Theatre, it was new to me, I was going with teenagers even though I couldn't have been 11 or 12 myself. It was a good movie, and I have fond memories of it. How can you not? Keifer Sutherland, Jason Patrick and the 2 Corey's as they would come to be known.

We all have demons we have to fight, and his was drugs, it's a shame, as of Feb 18th he had told reporters he was "doing well and was looking forward to future film projects". I hope he finds peace now. My heart goes out to his mom and his best friend of many many years, the "other Corey" Corey Feldman.

Monkey Around......

Last weekend we took the boys to monkey business, which was a lot of fun for all of us. Talk about a business opportunity waiting to happen. It's just a big room (3,000 sq feet) and they just put a bunch of fun toys in it, climbing houses, bouncy houses, some balls………they charge $7 per kid after age 2 $5 b4 kids age 2…..Parents are free. They charge between $1-$3 for snacks and coffee, and soda. Fantastic idea. As parents we thought it was GREAT, we could sit right there and watch them, while enjoying a latte. We were there from 8:30-11. The boys thought it was AWESOME, and they had a lot of fun. I told Eric I wish we had a couple grand laying around, we could open one next to us and make a MINT all those stay at home mommies with nothing to do………Check them out if you have kids. This would be a great place to have a bday party!!

http://www.monkeybizness.com/littlemonkeybizness/index.html

Parrot Head?

Saturday my mom came over to hang out with us and the boys as she does most Saturday's, gives her some with them, and me an hour or so to get some things done. This weekend she brought her DVD of Jimmy Buffett. I have been a parrot head since i was about 7. My mom was introduced to him by a friend of hers, and she has been hooked ever since. It is one of a few things Eric and i have in common. It's familiar ground for us when we can't agree on music, we can agree on Jimmy. I think happily, my boys have gotten the Jimmy Bug too. They were all t o happy to jam out with mom and I............Cheeseburger anyone?

Elmo!!!!

ELMO! Is coming to town. Follow the link to order tickets!! Also, if you friend them on facebook (go to my friends and you can find them) you will get a $3 discount per ticket.

http://tickethorse.com/event.aspx?id=244&i=i

Frustrated........

My posts of late have been very loving and heartfelt, warm and fuzzy you might say. This one I fear, will not be.

Let me be clear when I state, I pride myself on being an understanding and open person. I try not to hold unnecessary grudges, or resentment. There are very few people that have been in my life that if given the chance I would not love to see or speak to ever again. That being said. Let me bring you up to speed on the current DRAMA in the Spillman home.

Eric the boys and I went to a church meeting on Monday. Wonderful meeting and a lot got accomplished. On our way home, we got mail, in the mail was a letter for GMAC Mortgage. We didn't think it was good news (we're not stupid) but we didn't think it could be to terribly horrible, we were current, and have never been late. We were wrong. Ladies and gentlemen welcome to another member of the ever growing housing market statistic. Eric called Tuesday and was informed that our interest only mortgage would be ending, and our payment would be going up. Now you might ask yourself what this has to do with anyone other than us. Well, as many of you know Eric was married previously for several years, while married they purchased several homes and rented them out. When they divorced, all but one of the homes, had been sold, or re-financed. When Eric and I bought our home, we were advised that one of the houses was still in his name. We called Eric's ex and asked her to please handle the situation, she assured us she would. At this point there was no animosity, or anger. Their marriage had ended, as amicable as a marriage can, and they had each moved on. So there was no reason to be untrusting of her. Fast forward to June of '06. Eric comes home and advises me he has been served with legal documents advising him the HOA of the STILL jointly owned home was suing both him and his ex to the tune of $3,000 for nonpayment of HOA fees. We called her immediately as we had thought she re-financed the home as promised, as you can see, she hadn't. So now, we are stuck in a legal battle with her over this home. Come to find out, not only had she not been paying the HOA fees, she also had not been paying the mortgage, and it was close to being in foreclosure. We tried to work it out with her, but the honest truth is, with a small child and a home of our own, we had no desire to be landlords. We racked out brains with what we could do with this home trying to work with the tenant as well as Eric's ex. It was all in vain. Last year she filed bankruptcy which included the home, which at this point had foreclosed.

This leads me to the reason for this post. Eric and I have worked very hard to have the home and lifestyle we currently enjoy. Our boys are getting the best we can offer them. We have spared very little expense when it comes to them (yes I know overly spoiled). We have a wonderful home, we have all the gadgets and goodies we could want, and frankly we have enjoyed it. I am unhappy with Eric's ex, well, unhappy is an understatement. Disgusted would be the word, followed by disappointed. I am disappointed that she was not women enough to come to us and tell us what was happening, knowing it would affect us too. And I am disappointed in our government for punishing good, bill paying law abiding people, or letting the banks do it. If our mortgage payment goes up, we run the risk of losing our home. I realize this is doomsday thinking and does me no good. But it is how I am. One of the horrible drawbacks to be a catastrophic thinker. It's very hard when your future is uncertain, but I know, that no matter what happens we will stand together as a family and we will face whatever obstacles with strength, perseverance and mostly LOVE. Thanks for listening.