The little things in life

So we have a mouse problem.  Thank the LORD they are not in our house, but they have completely taken over our garage.  Matt tore out our old cupboards and found the bottom of the shelves completely packed with chewed up plastic, and of course, an entire nest of baby mice.  Sammy (the dog) took care of the mom and ate her.  The kids decided they were going to raise these darling little things and keep them as pets.  Ha!  So they all got dixie cups and each neighbor kid had a "pet".  Now look closely and you'll notice that they are brand new, hairless, babies.  There was not a chance in hell that these little guys were going to make it.  But the kids gave it a shot and we had some deep and meaningful discussions about why we couldnt' keep them alive.  And then we proceeded to watch them die a slow, but unpainful death, and we buried them.  In the neighbors flower bed.  And then we checked them a few times (just to make sure they didn't come back to life) and then we pretty much forgot about them.
 

And then we went on to celebrate Daddy's birthday later that day.  Happy #33 Matt!  How lucky are you to have these three cuties to show for yourself?  And one hot wife, or so I hear........

 

And here is Cameron skyping with her bestie that moved away in January.  She was so excited to see Ainsley all the way in North Dakota.  And while we don't have the right connection, and there was a lot of freezing on the screen, I think they all enjoyed "visiting" skype style.  Really, who would have thought when we were seven that this would have ever been this easy to do?  The girl is six and she uses "Skype" as a verb.  Part of her regular vocabulary. Can we all say The Jetsons?  Back in the day if a friend moved away, you'd better hope you could write out an address.  On and envelope.  With a pencil.  And that your Mom would give you a stamp.  Which was worth like $.23.  And you heard from them a few times.  And that was it.  Skype.  Who woulda thought.

  

 

Oh, and guess what else?  After almost nine years of being the primary and almost sole provider of dinner and everything in between, Matt swoops in, buys a smoker and starts smoking everything insight, and is apparantly the cook of the century.  Seriously, Matt could smoke a dog turn and the kids would eat it.  Just strictly because Mom didn't cook it. 

Atleast Brody still likes my food.  Wait, maybe Matt smoked that spagetti when I wasn't looking.  We did actually smoke some macaroni and cheese, which is white trash as all get out, but I'm not too proud to say that it.  was.  AWESOME. 
 

Reason #1534 for why I drink wine.  I had to say that I would make 24 pig hats for Cameron's school play. Of course I said yes.  I'm Martha Freakin Room Mom of the year.  I always say yes.  Besides, how hard could a few pig hats be?  Well these little jewels had 3-d eye lids, and a 3-d snout.  2 hours of cutting, a few hours of assembly snouts and eyelids, i was ready to start gluing.  Luckily, they came together pretty quickly once all the small parts were done.  And once the small parts were finished, I was confident I could drink wine while hot gluing and they turned out beautiful!  And such a cute play!  Who would have thought....3 little pigs Opera style!  Yay for good teachers who do this kind of thing!

And so, Matt has widowed me again for the evening, which is why I have time to blog.  Bass widow=chick flick, wine, and catching up on facebook and blogging.  I just finished two glasses of wine and The Vow, which I was pretty dissappointed in.  I read the book, it was intense and amazing.  Watched the movie and I just wonder what Hollywood is thinking sometimes.  Seriously, can we just tell a story like it was?

I am now watching Jimmy Fallon, who used to irritate me, but I have developed a sort of late night attachment (crush) on.  He is so funny!

And tomorrow will be a round of Saturday chores, (Yes, the kids are finally old enough to start pulling their weight around here)  a quick trip to run some errands and then Cameron has her clogging recital. 

Looking forward to one more day of school for Tucker, four more days for Cameron, and ready for some mega summer fun! 

Thanking God tonight for good teachers for both kids next year.  I pray about teachers so much and I am so happy for the ones that my kids got.  Now three months of "bonding" time.......

It's that time again

Lord almighty, didn't I just get rid of the diaper genie?  And here we are again.  Potty Training.  I really aughta write a book.
 

Basketball Recap

 

Wrapping up Cameron's second season of basketball and so proud of her for playing because she was the only girl on her team that showed and it was pretty rough playing with all of those boys.  But, she stuck with it, and made some great improvements in the process.  I can't wait for her to get to the age where they split the boys and the girls, but for now, she's learning how to be a little more agressive than she wants to be, otherwise, she rarely gets the ball at all. 

And here is my little Brody just begging to get out there and play.  He has a hard time standing on the sidelines, and I know he won't have a problem learning to be agressive after so many years of watching and playing with the bigger kids.
 

The same for Tucker, just waiting on the side lines, counting the minutes until he's old enough to get out there and show everybody how it's done.
 

My girly girl getting tough and making a basket.  This is me using my new lense for the first time.  It's nice to be able to sit in the stands and take a photo from there that isn't dark and grainy.  Thanks hubby! 

Now that basketball is over, we are playing soccer and tennis.  I just signed both kids up for t-ball.  I have come to the realization that I am going to spend the next twenty years of my life in the bleachers.  Love it! 

Monday morning detox

We are strong into our annual after holiday detox program.  Being that the kids started eating candy Saturday morning after the egg hunt and have continued through until late last night, it's no wonder that Brody was pretty much a disaster by the end of our easter celebration.  My Dad, being Grandpa, decided to give Brody and Tucker each their own soda.  And Brody thought he had struck the mother lode.  This was seconds after Matt decided he'd had enough and tried to take it from him.  But, like most all addicts, he went absolutely off his rocker and fought for it.  He needed that sugar.  And so then he just proceeded to walk around crying because he was sure that somebody was going to take it from him.  I finally talked him into letting me trade him out for a sippy cup, but only when he saw me put some of the soda inside.  Yes, white trash at the best.  Atleast it wasn't a baby bottle full of coca cola.  But atleast then he only got a small amount instead of the entire pop can.  And so we are up today eating protein and planning on tuna sandwiches for lunch until we can start to behave ourselves again.  And the Easter candy has been sorted and hid, with all of the best stuff set aside for Mom.  And I still can't figure out why I can't loose this baby weight...... 

Always the joker, Matt decided to hang this egg off a pine needle higher than any kid could reach.  What's the point of having kids if you can't mess with them a little bit? 

So Grandpa decided to help Tucker out after watching them jump up and down for a good ten minutes. 

The stealth hunter....
 

Brody is on it....
 

My sweet neice in her yellow dress.  She was so proud of herself.  When we pulled in, she came prancing out to the car with her skirts fully extended on both sides of her, just fishing for a compliment. 

Checking out the goods....
 

Bria, another of my neices, resting after a lot of eggs and family fun.  She just turned one in March.  So cute! 

Crazy Cousins

My kids are so very blessed because they have lots of cousins on both sides of the family and we all live close by and we spend quite a bit of time together.  And while we love each and every of them, Cameron and Bradley have a special bond because they are the same age.  These two are partners in crime and have been since they were pretty little.  And when these two get together, it's nothing but fun!  I just had to share these pics of the two of them jumping rope together in the sunshine.  I just love all the expressions on their faces.  Enjoy!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Easter

Couldn't choose just one because someone is just a little off in every snapshot.  But I decided I liked these six the best.  These are my sweet kiddos clean and ready for Easter Sunday Mass.  In approximately an hour after these were taken, Brody had fallen on the handicap ramp and completely demolished his upper lip.  He walked around with a swollen and bleeding lip all day.  This kid is going to be the death of me! 

18 Month Cutie

Happy Saturday everybody!  I wanted to share my collage of Brody on his 18 month birthday.  Aside from the dimples and beautiful blue eyes, you can see that Brody is clearly a holy terror and is sporting the battle scars to prove it.  The scab on his forehead was from a wiggle car rollover.  The long and diagonal bruise running down his forehead and across his face was from trying to climb my super high bar stools.  And he pulled it over on himself.  Poor kid.  It's hard to be a big boy when you're stuck in a little boy body.  But he doesn a pretty good job of it.  Always happy and always up for any adventure or anywhere our day may lead us, he has been jumping in and rollin with it since the day he was born.  12 teeth, and two hair cuts behind him, a tad bit of interest in potty training, although at this point, I'd call it potty considering, and we are on toward the terrible twos!
 
Today we went easter egg hunting and now we are home for some deep cleaning during nap time, boiling and dying eggs and making deviled eggs for tomorrows Easter family extravaganzas, both Brown and Posten style.  When the only holiday problem you have is too many family parties to attend, you know you're pretty stinkin' blessed!  Hope you have a great holiday weekend!