Just a few favorites

I took lots and lots of pictures while we were in Florida, but here are just a few:

You may have heard...

...the saying: Barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen. Right?

I'm unashamedly guilty of that. Not right now, of course. I'm not hinting at anything here.



Today, I stumbled across this pictures from Jared's wedding and thought I would share.

It made me smile.

So I bring you:

Barefoot (my feet hurt), pregnant (36 weeks, 2 days), and on the dance floor (having a blast).

Florida Fun

Uh oh! Bullet points. You know what that means: lots of information condensed to catch you all up.

In short, we're having so much fun here in the Sunshine State that is living up to its name. We are soaking in the rays and the love and getting better. Yup - that's right, we all had colds. Drew got sick the day before we left and I was sick by the time we touched down. It hit Evan the day after. It wasn't the easiest start to the vacation, but we got through it. My grandmother and great-grandmother are having so much fun loving on the boys and watching their antics.

Everyday...

• We wake up to sunshine and enjoy a leisurely breakfast (because what is vacation without every morning feeling like a Saturday?) complete with fresh fruit that does not regularly grace our table at home - and especially not all at once. Pineapple, blueberries, strawberries, cantaloupe, grapes...
• We have been able to get out and walk or run. Sometimes I have gone just by myself, but since the boys love riding in the stroller in the morning light, we make an outing of it.
• I have been able to sit outside while the boys take their afternoon nap and just soak in the sun and read my February book, "Eat Pray Love", as well as laugh out loud with Lenore Skenazy as I read though her book "Free-Range kids". I'm enjoying both immensely.
• We go to bed happy and tired and usually after some TV has been watched. Because, again, what is vacation without the indulgence of actually watching TV?
  

A handful of times...

• We have gone to my grandmother's pool just a short walk away. Evan loves playing on the steps and flirting with all the older women there, and Drew just has a ball in the floating saucer. They both are now experts at dunking their heads under water (with help) and Evan has added blowing bubbles and kicking to his pool skill set. (Hopefully I'll really be able to work with him this summer...what is an ex-life guard/swim instructor/swimmer doing with a 2.5 year old who doesn't swim yet?!)
• We have gone to a nearby playground to run off some steam.
• We have been able to watch a Sky-Writer! There is a local man who owns a small plane and on really clear days, he writes messages in the sky. We have lots of fun guessing the letters or just pointing out what letters are there. Of course, Evan has also just loved watching the airplane itself.
  

We have also...

• Gone to the beach. Not to play, but just to wet our feet. And take pictures. In highschool, I loved going to the beach with friends. But in highschool, I didn't have 2 little kids. And 2 little kids mean that there are 2 more bodies to de-sand. And I hate de-sanding my own body. So it's official. I am not a beach person. Give me mountains any day. Or a pool.
• Gone to a "bird sanctuary". A nature walk of sorts where we were able to see lots of ducks and turtles in their natural habitat. We saw birds of many shapes, size and color, too, and, we saw alligators. Yes, that's plural. Three to be exact, and it was amazing.
• Gone to the mall to ride the little train (special treat from great-grama!)
  
• Gone to the local Fire station to see the trucks and hoses and coats and hats! Evan was a little shy while there, but it's all he could talk about the rest of the day.
• Gone to a big birthday bash for my great-grandmother who turned 90 last week. We saw family I hadn't seen in 13-16 years and everyone was able to meet the boys. It was a really neat time.

I will have pictures up once we get home and back into a routine a little bit. But for now, I hope this caught you up!

He's on the go!

Drew has been exploring the stairs and man, has he really taken off!!

He's been climbing for a while now, but because our stair climber is in the corner now, it took Drew a little longer to tackle it than Evan.

Oh, the logic

On the way home from church today I was explaining to Evan how we were going to visit his great-great-grandmother later this week.

"Two grandmothers?"

"Well yes, you do have two grandmothers, but this is your great-great-grandmother. This means she's Grandude's grandmother."

"Oh. Two grandmothers?"

"Yes. You have mommy's mommy - Grammy. And you have daddy's mommy who now wants to be called Oma." (Over Christmas we were informed of the change....)

"Oma goodness gracious!!"

I laughed so hard. To which, of course, he just kept saying it over and over again.

The Switcheroo

As you know, we have this deal with our neighbor friends. We kid-switch once a month. Really, I guess, it's twice a month -- but each family gets all four boys once a month while the other couple goes on a date. Scot and I did our date last weekend and they did theirs this morning.

Dates for February. Check!

It's so easy and so fun for the boys. It was especially easy today as Justin (13 mo) slept almost the entire time! Drew missed him, but he played just fine with the older two.

I love this set up and am SO looking forward to consistent dates with Scot!

While the little boys napped, the big boys busted out the play-doh. I cleaned the kitchen.


The sun was actually out a little this morning! Can see the filtered sunshine coming in through the window?! For this reason alone, I said that we were playing upstairs instead of in the playroom.


The toy box was used as a boat, Santa's sleigh, and attempted as a hat. But that didn't work out too well.


We also figured out real fast (as in, right after this picture was taken) that it holds one boys better than two.


Drew was very excited to see his friend up and out of bed!


Yes, that is a crayon is my child's mouth. Yes, I knew about it before the picture was taken. And yes, I took it away once he started marking on the cupboards with it.

My boys

Evan has always loved helping, but he is turning into such a superb little helper these days. Just this week, he brought wipes from the store up to the bathroom where they belong, he ran to get the stool when he saw I was having trouble reaching something, and he got a new trash bag in the trash can and put the trashcan back under the sink while I was out putting the trash by the side of the road! I was shocked with the last feat! All without being asked!!


Here Evan and his friend, Colin, are watching and waiting for popcorn to pop over at Colin's while Scot and I were out on our date this past weekend. We so enjoy having Jack and Jamie and the boys just 3 doors down from us! We keep saying that this summer, with all 4 boys fully mobile, will be a blast! We can't wait!!


Drew, my little blue-eyed baby, is turning into an all-American boy! He still loves to cuddle, but I think those days will be fading quickly as he is starting to be more adventurous and trying more and more to do what Evan is doing. To include climbing on everything. Thankfully, he's a tough nut. He is such a laidback kid, though, who laughs easily and flashes his smiles constantly.


Here he is studying with Scot. Both boys just love it when Scot is home, but Evan is old enough to know that when daddy is studying we stay out of the office and daddy will play later. Drew on the other hand just has a mini melt-down if he can see Scot but can't get to him. It's precious.

New 'Do

So I finally had a picture of just me taken so you could all see the major difference in my hair.

Ok. So maybe not so major, but it feels major to me. I didn't have any length taken off and just got it reshaped, so it went from very drab to a little more me. At least I'd like to think so...

Half Broke Horses

This was my January book. And it was fabulous.

I laughed. I thought. I looked into a world that is not my own. I gained an appreciation for creature comforts. I hurt. I turned the pages almost as fast as I do with a mystery. I will read this again.

The author, Jeannette Walls, calls this a "true-life" novel, and that's just what it is. It's more memoir than anything, but because she received most of her information second hand, she can't officially call it a memoir and so she resorts to this "true-life" novel genre. The book is written in the first person, a fact I loved, and the entire book is about the life of the Jeannette's maternal grandmother. And what a crazy-adventurous life it was!

This is not the author's first book I've read. Her first book, The Glass Castle, is a true memoir and one of my all-time favorite books. Reading Half Broke Horses gave me such a better understanding for The Glass Castle. If you're going to read these books, read Half Broke Horses first.

Currency of Life

Valentine's Day is not huge in our house. I rarely get roses on the day since Scot surprises me with flowers throughout the year and truthfully, I'm not even partial to the iconic love flower. We don't exchange gifts. We sometimes don't even do something on the 14th.

But we always do something.

Over the years our Valentine's Day celebrations have ranged from not-even-a-shoestring budget dinner with a special dessert to dinner out and a movie to this year, which actually looked a lot like last year's Valentines Day outing.

The day started out with the entire family going a little over a mile away to this fantastic little bakery, On the Rise. It specializes in Artisan breads, but they make a mean scone and super delicious filled croissants. Ahh, the smell of fresh bread, the taste of rich coffee, the sunny smiles of my boys...it was a wonderful morning.

And then Scot studied. But that was all right, because while the boys napped and he studied, I went out and got pampered at the Brown Aveda Institute. For a steal - and really, I mean that - I went and read an entire issue of Vogue (something I haven't done since high school) while I was offered water, tea, or coffee, received a complimentary arm/hand massage, and one of the best haircuts ever.

The entire process of driving and being there took a little over 3 hours, but it was so worth it.

Our friends Jack and Jamie watched the boys for us for a couple hours so that Scot and I could have some date time. We hit the mall boy-less and felt like we were really dating again. We walked hand in hand people watching, popping into this store or that, and ended up buying an entire new outfit for me!! SCORE!! I have been looking for a pair of jeans for a while now and since I'm picky, this has been hard. AE was having a sale though and their jeans were discounted -- so we got a pair. Of course, if we spent just 8 more dollars, we got $10 off the entire purchase. So we did.

To top it all off, we actually went out to dinner at this great Irish place. The lights were low, the conversation was great, we weren't having to worry about who was eating what. Ahh...it was fantastic. It was delightful. It was something we haven't done in a while. It was needed, even. It was a time where we were able to stop and smell the roses, so to speak, and enjoy a time set aside to take into account the love we have for each other. Because really, that's what Valentine's day is all about right?

And if all that weren't enough (I was all ready feeling immensely spoiled), once the boys were in bed we got the big metal pot out and made some kettle corn to eat while we watched a movie - Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. It was a good movie to watch since the over arching theme was in fact that the currency of life is not money as one would expect, but it's love.

And I apologize for the lack of pictures. Somehow my camera was collecting dust while we were out playing.

10 Months

20 lbs, 28 inches, happy-as-can-be

I'm here, too!

I know compared to Evan, I'm not doing too much. I'm not saying sentences or trying on shoes, but I am here and I'm having a blast. Mom and Dad think I'm one cute cookie, too.

Recently, I have discovered the toilet. Well, let me back up. I noticed it because older brother uses it and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about -- but mom would hardly let me open the lid to figure it out! Except the other day. Mom was busy doing something in her room and I thought "this is my chance!" - so I crawled into the bathroom and lifted that toilet seat up. You know what I found? WATER!! There's water in there and my goodness is it fun to splash in. Mom wasn't too happy with me, though. Now the bathroom door is closed a lot of the time.

Even though I'm not talking like my older brother, I still am talking. I say Mama and Dada a lot and mmmmmmm. That's my favorite. And jumping. I really like to jump. And squeal.

I am also now fast enough to chase big brother around. At least he thinks I'm chasing after him. Really I just crawl as fast as I can and he runs around looking silly. But we laugh about it and so does mom.

Food. Oh food. I love food. Pretty much anything mom puts in front of me I grab and stick in my mouth. She seems to be pretty happy about that, and since I eat almost as much as big brother, I'm always pretty happy, too.

I like to snuggle with mom whenever her lap is empty. I like to crawl up into it and give her big hugs and wet kisses and rub my nose all on her shirt. I don't think she likes the last part too much, but she takes it since she loves the rest. Something about being a mom I guess.

Well, I think that's a good update on me for now. Mom can fill you in on what big brother is doing, but I thought you should hear what I'm up to from the man himself.

Later Gater...

Yes, he's still into shoes...

While over at my friend Jamie's house, Evan decided to try on some of the shoes she was showing me. Pretty cute shoes, huh? I'm partial to the brown ones, but I guess Evan preferred the sling-backs.

Evan Funnies

Just recently, Evan has been saying the funniest things. To us, at least. I'll try to convey their humor here.

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While out this afternoon, he was sucking on a lollipop and got all the way down to the center - something which I have never been able to do seeing as I'm like that owl who just chomps. So I told ho patient he was in getting the lollipop so small. "You must have gotten that gene from your daddy!" I said.

He looked at me slightly perturbed and then said while pulling on his jeans "No Mommy - these Evan's jeans."

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Evan was talking to Drew this morning asserting his older brother-ness:

"I'm a big boy. I have big boy ears. I have big boy toes. I have big boy shoes. Drew, you're a little boy -- you have little boy ears."

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Scot and I have these amazing little contraptions called Yak Trax. They strap onto your shoe and grip the snow or ice and prevent falls. They're fabulous. Anyway, Evan was looking at the bottom of his shoe in the car today and told me that he too was wearing "Ak Trax". It's YAk Trax, Evan. Can you say that for me? And so we went without any progress. "Ak Trax" was all he could say but I knew he could make the 'ya' sound, so I was going to try. Here is how it went.

M: Evan, say 'yes'.
E: Yes.
M: Good. Now say 'yellow'
E: Lellow.
M: OK. Say Yes. (he did). Say Yell. (he did) Say Yellow.
E: Yellow.
M: Good. Now say YAk Trax.
E: Ak Trax.
M: Ok. (If at first you don't succeed, right?) Repeat after me. Yes. (echo). Yell. (silence.) Yell. (me waiting....)
E: AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

He yelled all right!! And he also finally said Yak Trax after some good laughter.

The Great Purge

It is now February and my purging is done. This is just one of a few piles given to the Salvation Army. I ended up donating 6 large trash bags full.

Full of clothes. Too small. Too big. Too low or short. Too out-of-date.

Full of books. Unread or unwanted.

Full of nick nacks collecting dust and unused kitchen gadgets.

Full of stuff that wasn't being used.

Full of stuff that will hopefully bless someone else.

Ahh...the Great Purge...how I love you.

Breakthrough

The last week or so Scot and I have been trying hard to handle Evan's "fatal flaw" that was recently brought to light.

He is a people pleaser.

He means well, and until now, the people pleaser in him hadn't graced us with any issues. In fact, it was great. But about two weeks ago while he was eating he looked at me with those big gray eyes and asked "Eat it all? Make Mommy happy?" Without much thought to it, I told him, yes, it would make me happy.

After a few times of this I started to catch on. The night I really figured it out though, he had bumped Drew off his bed (which is just a mattress on the floor) and without thinking I told him that it made me sad that he would be unkind to his brother.

Well that was it. I don't know where the tears came from, but there they were, huge crocodile tears in colossal amounts, pouring down his little cheeks and his mouth in that adorable frown. And then it hit me.

He's not upset that his brother is hurt. He's upset because I'm sad.

It was only confirmed by him sobbing out: "No Mommy sad!! Make Mommy happy!!!"

Uh oh.

So I calmed him down, told him I loved him, and that while it did make mommy sad that he would be unkind to Drew, it was more important that he had made God unhappy by not being kind.

So after over a week of talking to him about all this. Constantly. Trying to explain to him that he should be more concerned about what God thinks than what "man" (me) thinks. We have brought it down to his level, but we weren't sure he was getting it until yesterday.

We were talking and he asked me "make mommy happy?" and I turned to him and said "well yes, buddy, but you should want to make God happy more than making mommy happy."
"Oh." - and he was thoughtful. And then he looked at me and said: "Obey mommy. Obey Jesus. Make God happy!!!"

Breakthrough!!!

Now I know this doesn't address his heart attitude at all, but at least we're on our way.