Classy

Last night Brent and I were able to celebrate Valentine's Day with some friends, which we looked forward to for quite a while. We spent it in a classier part of town, at Easton. We were hesitant to leave the kids, as one of them wasn't feeling 100%. We prayed he'd be fine for the sitter and all worked out well on that end.

Unfortunately the night got to me though, after all was said and done. I left my mark of class on the sidewalk outside Easton. I guess we had a little too much fun...passers-by were thinking I just couldn't handle all the "fun." Little did they know, there were no drinks involved. More likely a little life inside this belly o' mine was not agreeing with too much fun with friends.

The "wave" came over me while I was talking to a friend in the middle of the mall. I told her I wasn't feeling good and needed to get going. I didn't want to interrupt Brent's conversation with the guys, but I also didn't want to make a scene right then and there. So we headed to the van and barely made it out the doors of the mall. That's so classy...what a welcoming entrance it would be for the rest of the visitors.

Pretty sure it was coincidental that our boy and I were both feeling lousy last night. Maybe a little low-class laziness will help us all today!

Cabin fever

Since I haven't posted in forever, I thought I'd put a few out there...in case I don't post 'til March.

We are definitely suffering from cabin fever. Plenty of indicators...

Mommy did not pose...for everyone's benefit. I also don't want to be admitted based on evidence on this blog.

We would seriously be happy with more snow, and tho I may regret saying this, we're jealous of the abundance of snow our family received in Iowa & Wisconsin. They have had numerous snow days and they're still enjoying the mounds of snow there. The boys love sledding, but we just don't have enough to keep them occupied on the "slopes."


Looking on the brighter side...the boys are honing their skills on the Wii. (Is that a brighter side? Nintendo claims it's healthy...nice try!) I can't stand video games...but these, I've developed a strong liking for. Super Mario Galaxy...that's a favorite these days. It has even topped Brent's rock star obsession of Guitar Hero. Thank you Mario!

We welcomed a snow day on Tuesday and made it out to a local sledding hill. Our friends joined us with their adorable 2 year old. It was his first round of sledding and he seems to be a pro now. We had the rare treat of warming ourselves by the fire and having lunch at Panera afterward. Gotta love a break from the norm.

The upside to having little snow this year was a winter hike the boys convinced us to take on a Sunday afternoon. There is a great "trail" in the city that is perfect for the boys. We would call it a gorge, as the river/creek runs below the trail. This day happened to be a little rainy, but it didn't hinder the adventurous spirits!

We can say there ARE plenty of things to keep us busy around here. However, staving off the viruses is our goal in NOT partaking in all of them. Spring or at least spring break will be so welcome in this house...or perhaps we'll just settle for a little bit more snow. I know...I just went and said it. No hate mail please! :-)

Logic...lacking it

We have determined that one of our boys really lacks logic at this stage in life. Don't know when you really determine if someone has the gift or not, but we're gonna have to say "no" right now. These are a few statements that you would hear come from this guy's mouth, ever so confidently.

"I'm going outside, because I'm going to go outside!" (With his hand in the air to explain, in case you didn't understand)

"I'm so cold, b/c it's so cold!"

The other night, he didn't want to eat the sandwich that he claimed he wanted. After one bite, "I'm done with this."

"You said you wanted it, so you need to eat 3 more bites." (The bites are calculated by their age...that's great logic right? )

He put on his best mad face...(he's got a mean one) and said

"I'm SELFISH!"

Huh? How's that fit in? Where did that come from? I busted up laughing and he had a hard time keeping his mad face without cracking a smile, making me laugh all the more.

He did agree (unwillingly) with our bites logic... after a few minutes of laughing!

love face.book

Yes, I have become a junkie...i am enjoying face.book a lot. My cousin and a good college friend got me hooked on it. I thought I was too old and too low-techie for it. But apparently, the majority of users are from my generation. I guess we need some way to try and stay young.

Most recently a sweet friend from h.s. contacted me and asked to be my friend, again. (Yes, you have to request a friendship with someone, before you're allowed to communicate with them.) I was so excited to reconnect with her and would accept a request for her friendship anytime! :-)

Another friend from h.s. and I also connected and I am really excited about that! She has a blog of her own and I've bookmarked it (Jill Anderson). She's quite active in this blogging community and I know I can learn a lot from her! Most exciting is her faith in Jesus...pretty cool to connect years later (15 this year!) and have a deeper basis for friendship this time around!

Tonsows in my froat.

We're 11 days out from surgery and we hope we can say that we have recovered well from a tonsilectomy & adenoidectomy. (Don't even spell check that!) For as much as we prepared him for it, he was not ready for it to happen that morning! I don't think there's anyway to fully prepare a 3 year old for surgery. But the surgery center did an awesome job and we felt so comfortable with the situation.

God's timing was good, as our friend's little girl had just had the same surgery, at the same office about a month earlier. She really helped me prepare and know what to expect. So thankful for her!

We're also thankful for everyone's prayers, meals, phone calls & words of encouragement. Several friends invited Braden over and took him to and from preschool. It was nice for him to be loved on a little extra too!

During Christmas, we had a late night and my SIL asked him, "Brooks, you look really tired, do you feel okay?"
In his nasally, stuffy voice he responded "No, I hab tonsows in my froat!" :-)

YES HE DID...and they were massive and slowing him down a lot!

He had quite the attitude while suffering through with majorly enlarged tonsils. So we asked the dr. to take out the grumpies during the procedure too. It became evident during recovery at home that they had not been removed. Once Brooks was back to normal, but still copping attitude, Brent and I threatened to take him back and have the tonsils put back in!! We think he's feeling a little freedom to express himself now in these terrible 3's!

All in all, it was pretty minor and it slowed us down for several days, but we couldn't have had a much more smooth experience!

Finding the jewel

I found it...the frame I'd been searching for this past year! I saved this picture (taken by our very talented friend, Melanie) since last fall, planning to frame it. Mel caught the boys during a silly time...I'm sure they were laughing about some bodily function. Nevertheless, I love when they share a laugh together and this picture captured it forever for us. Now, if it only captured the sound of their contagious laughs too!

Both boys have inherited their Dad's funny laughs & giggles. Each of them can get you laughing just hearing them crack up. On our first date, Brent and I watched a Jim Carrey movie. I found more humor in listening to Brent than watching Jim Carrey!

Laughter is such a blessing, isn't it? Regardless of what we're going through, laughter does lift the spirit. One of the boys' favorite songs was taken from Prov. 15:13....A joyful heart is good medicine...
Now to find the perfect place for this great remedy!

Mommy University

On our way to my parents yesterday, Braden was snuggling with his new Webkin, Hoppy. He's a frog, in case you'd never figure it out. He asked, "Mommy, when I go to college, will I pack everything up?" (He wanted to secure a spot for Hoppy in his belongings.)

"Well, when are you going to college?"

"Maybe when I'm 7 or 8 or 9."

"How about when you're 17 or 18 or 19? Mommy went to college after I graduated from high school. I was 18 and Gpa and Gma Bailey and I packed up all my stuff in a minivan and drove a long way so I could go to college."

"Oh, so you could learn to be a mommy?" :-) :-) :-)

It's fun to try and help them to understand life before them. Life has essentially revolved around those cute, little boogers for about 6 years of my life, whether we want that or not. Thankfully, I was afforded a chance to study something other than mommy-hood before then. I do have a degree in accounting...will I ever put it to use again? I have no idea. I don't think I'll ever create the college-level courses on Mommy-hood though, b/c I have not won my "Mommy of the Year" award yet. When I do, I'll start writing the curriculum.