Valentine'd

The boys got these cute shirts in the mail yesterday.

Nana said to pretend she was giving them a big hug each time they wore them. Here are my cuties sending their hugs back her way.

(Yes, I haven't forgotten my passionate plea to keep Valentine's Day between people in a romantic relationship, but you can't reform everyone, right? Love you, Nana! Thank you!)

Dating Again!

Ryan and I are at blissful period of parenthood where...
     1 - I don't have to nurse a baby to sleep,
     2 - I'm not puking pregnant,
     3 - we aren't too poor to go out once in a while,
     4 - and our kids will let just about anyone put them to bed!
When all the stars align like this, it's time for some dating. Yippee!

First, here are some people we've "used" for babysitting:

Neighbors:
pros: can walk (so no transportation needs)
cons: expensive ($7-10 per hour), don't know LDS bedtime routine - Primary songs, prayer, scripture stories (Collin is pretty much old enough to lead all this stuff now though)

Young Women -
pros: know the LDS routine
cons: usually have to be picked up and dropped off, cost money ($5-7 per hour)

Young Single Adults -
pros: all the Latter-day Saint bedtime knowledge of YW plus usually won't accept pay and can drive themselves
cons: busy schedules

Side Story: The new basement has a "theater" (a giant tv and surround sound). So we invited the YSAs over to watch the Christmas Broadcast back in December. Then afterwards, Ryan proposed an idea:

They could come over once a month after we had the kids in bed, and they could have a YSA Movie Night while we went out on a date.

And guess what? They totally took us up on it! Hopefully, it'll become a regular thing. Sweet.

pros: they provide own transportation, free

cons: too late for dinner. Oh, and I provided snacks for their movie, but that was my choice.

Friend Swap -
pros: free, provide own transportation
cons: have to go out after kids are in bed (so no eating out), have to return the favor (though this isn't really that big of a deal)

Now here are some things we've done this last month:

dinner: Still by far my favorite date. I just love to eat out. Unfortunately, most of the "free" options above are specifically linked to a later departure time, which rules out dinner. We usually try to hit places that aren't kid-friendly - unique, pricey menus with slow-ish service.

comedy night: Brian Regan came to town, and we went with a big group from the ward. Good times.

basketball game: The local university men's team was playing downtown. Tip off was 7:05, and we were able to get there about twenty after. Swish! And it was only $8 for each of us.

game evening: Arrange for two babysitters to come to your home. Invite over several families. Leave a jar near the door for contributions to the babysitters. Everyone puts their kids on one floor with the sitters, and the adults play games and chat on another floor. Genius!

Barnes & Noble: Sit in the cafe browsing books/magazines and share a treat. We prefer travel books, where we dream of warm destinations. Sigh.

Rhythm Kitchen: Sit in the restaurant and listen to live music. The quality of music varies, but we shared a piece of cheesecake and some brie & fruit and chatted for hours. It was a good later-evening activity.

temple weekend: For another very few months, my parents are still in St Louis (a mission awaits them soon though). It isn't technically our temple district, but we head down there on a Friday night (3.5 hours), go to the temple and out to lunch on Saturday morning while my parents have the kids, and return home after church on Sunday. It's a busy weekend, but we get to go to the temple, and the kids get to see their grandparents. Good deal.

hockey game: We haven't gotten to this one yet, but there's a minor league here in town. Games start at 7pm, and if we can make it by 7:20, we'll still get plenty of entertainment. Score!

Do I have your mind clicking now? Look at all those babysitting and date ideas! Now go schedule a night, and enjoy your husband. It's almost Valentine's Day after all. :-)

B is TWO!

Happy birthday, Brennan!
 

We started this Sunday by making chocolate chip pancakes. After eating and while Ryan got ready for his meetings and I dressed the boys, we found out church was canceled! We spent the next few hour making phone calls and sending text and email messages passing on the word.

And then we suddenly had a whole day with nothing to do. Yippee! We decided the only way we'd survive the day was if we opened his presents first.

He got a stick horse from Grandpa & Grandma, which he loves. In my mom's own words: "I know it breaks all your rules. It has a stick for him to hit with, and it makes noise, but it is so Brennan." And she was spot-on: he loves it, but he hits his brother with the stick, and it makes a lot of noise. Gotta love the gifts from the grandparents who don't have to live with the consequences. :-)

Ryan and I got him these balls and sticks that you put together into a fort. Then you put a blanket over the whole thing to make a tunnel thing. Ryan LOVED building, and the boys LOVED playing, so it'll be a good "we're stuck in the house" kind of toy. Oh so perfect for a Sunday morning with church canceled. Go us.

After playing all morning, I taught the boys my primary lesson (gotta get a little church into them on the Sabbath), and we got to web-cam with Nana & Papa, which ended with meltdowns and nap time. Typical.

For dinner, we had our neighbors over. They are our fill-in local grandparents, and we love them! We enjoyed a meal of B's favorites: ham, corn, home fries and ketchup (of course). They brought birthday and Christmas gifts for both boys, so they got to open those after eating.

Lastly, we sang and did candles on a little cake (we're under dessert-restriction around here this month so we had to keep it small). He loved blowing out the fire. So cute.

Anyway, that was our little man's second birthday. Nothing fancy, but he was happy and so were we.

In honor of his two years on this planet, here are some facts about Brennan:

1 - He says all his beginning C/K sounds like a T or a P. We can't figure out the pattern of which consonant he replaces it with, but here are some examples: pamel (camel), Pim (Aunt Kim), Tall (Collin), tolor (color), tup (cup).

The other night Ryan was trying to get him to say "camel." Ryan said, "c-c-camel." And Brennan said, "t-t-pamel." We laughed for a good five minutes!

I love this language-acquisition phase. It is so fun to hear them say new words each day and express more and more complete thoughts. It makes me so happy to watch them learn new things. Is that the teacher in me or the mom or both?

2 - He loves art work. He loves markers, crayons, paints, and dry erase things. He is very meticulous, drawing itty bitty circles everywhere. My favorite is when we are doing stickers in church - he draws a little circle with the crayon and then covers it perfectly with a sticker, almost like putting glue down for the picture. He does it over and over again with exactness. Adorable.

He sometimes struggles with keeping his art work on paper though, and we've already cleaned marker off the couch, walls and bean bag chairs. We've cleaned crayon off the walls, couch and office chairs. Sigh. Good thing we didn't buy nice, new furniture for the basement theater. That hand-me-down stuff is working just fine as his canvas!

3 - Brennan is a pester-er. He likes to smile real big and then trip, pinch, pull hair, tickle/scratch, etc.

He also likes to tease with words. For example, he's started switching all our names around. Most days he makes me Brenn, and Tall is Daddy. He loves making Collin angry with silly things like this, and I'm trying to just convince Collin to let it go by saying, "Otay, B." It rarely works. Boys will be boys, right?

(Do you see the pestering in there? He's cute, but he's trouble!)

 

Every day after preschool, we drive through a new neighborhood across the street from ours with constant new construction. It's called Waterstone. One day, Brennan couldn't say it quite right, and he called it something that sounded like "waterbum." Now every time we drive in, he starts chatting "waterbum" while Collin yells back, "No buddy. Water-ST-one. Say ssssssssst." And Brenn promptly and purposefully grins and says, "Water-BUM!" It is quite the chorus.

4 - B loves to eat - all day, every day. It's been worse this week, so I hope he is just growing. He eats a waffle for breakfast but sometimes two. About an hour later, he has a piece of fruit (apple, banana or orange). By ten, we are errand-running and he's begging for his bag of pretzels, Goldfish and Cheerios. We eat lunch before noon, and he devours whatever is put in front of him. After naps, he eats a snack or two (more fruit and crackers) before dinner at 5:30, where he eats like he's never been fed. He even asked for something to eat after his bath and before bed tonight! It's out of control. I can't imagine what he'll be like as a teenager. Hope we are independently wealthy by then.

My Brennan is a sweets-addict. Between the extra pounds Ryan and I put on over the Holidays, and Brennan's inability to stop after one treat, we've put our whole family on restriction. You wouldn't believe the screaming, kicking and tears that have ensued. He likes the bad stuff - candy, cookies, cake, fruit snacks, brownies. He doesn't seem to have any idea what it means to be full, and he never stops. I'm not sure if it's his age, an inherited condition (Ryan suffers from the same addiction, lol), or if it is something I need to teach him. I think time will tell. I just want him to know balance, ya know?

Brennan loves to drink too, ha ha. We were having some problems in the diaper-arena (for 2 months!), and I tried taking away milk for two weeks, and it didn't fix anything. So then I took away apple juice (he never had much to begin with -just as a bribery in stores), and voila! No more crazy diaper-changing! Anyway, both boys are totally done with juice, and Brennan has really started liking water. I still serve him milk at meal-times, but all in all, he's a water-drinker now. Hooray!

*   *   *

All in all, Brennan is pretty flexible as far as a schedule. As long as he gets a nap before 2-ish and has food available at all times, he can go with the flow. He had a HARD month of December (lots of public tantrums), but January seems to be going smoother. He is talking SOOO much better than last month, so I think he is able to tell me more of what he wants instead of freaking out. Thank goodness.

Happy two years, Little One. We love you!

Kim's Visit

My sister went to St Louis with her family for Christmas, and since we're only another 3 hours away, they all came to our place for a few days afterwards. They mostly came to see the new basement, but since that was accomplished in the first 30 minutes...

 

We had quite a few movie parties in the new theater. The kids also played and played (bring on the new Christmas toys!), and the moms and dads talked and talked. It was great fun. We miss living close to them!

 

We've also been wanting to visit the new Caterpillar Visitor Center downtown, and what better time than with visiting family.

 

There isn't really much to say about each picture, so I'll just let the photos do the talking.

 

 

Thanks again for coming, Kim and family. Brennan keeps asking for "Anna." We miss you guys!

Nine!

We can now say we've been married nine years. Isn't that nuts!? And what does this couple do to celebrate their anniversary?

Well, Ryan went running with a friend this morning and brought his teenage-daughter home with him. Yep, she was here at 7:30 in the morning! We went to breakfast at a little diner nearby. We are totally missing his uncle's place in Vancouver, but this was passable. I love eating out for breakfast.

After breakfast? We went to Kohl's to return a shirt, but couldn't find anything to buy with the gift card. We went to Best Buy to spend a gift card, but couldn't find anything we wanted. We went to Lowe's for...  wait for it.... night lights (my sis is coming tonight and her daughter needs a night light to sleep with) and furnace filters. Ha ha.

Furnace filters and night lights for an anniversary? Yep, that's nine years for ya. Who needs diamonds and special trips? I have Ryan, and that's all I need.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my amazing husband. We have had a crazy last year; it has literally been the best and worst year of our nine years together. We had our AMAZING trip to the Bahamas in February followed by the HORRIFIC four-month separation of Joliet. In the midst of those events (and after almost five years of planning and dreaming), we finished our basement to perfection.

And through it all, we have grown to love each other more and more. I love you, Babe. I can't imagine life without you. Happy anniversary!

Merry Christmas!

We headed to St Louis this year for Christmas. It was a quick trip, arriving the morning of the 22nd and returning the morning of the 26th. We were joined by Rob (youngest bro), Jared (younger bro)and Kim (sis). Rob's friend visited part of the time, and of course all of Kim's crew was there.

Collin had a great time playing with his cousin Janice (age 6). Brennan did seem to understand that Brianna (just a few days older than him) was not a "baby." All in all, we had a great time. Collin had many bratty moments, and the moms and dads had many sleepless nights, but isn't that what family trips are all about? lol

The adults enjoyed playing Bang! each night after the lil ones were in bed. Grandpa refused to play because lying was the basis for the game. Beer life points and "banging" each other didn't seem to phase him!

My parents have enjoyed traveling the world this last year, so they brought us some culture. On Sunday we had a luau, complete with leis and Hawaiian chicken. My mom even wore her mu mu! Another evening we got to hear all about their Book of Mormon tour. We each received a leather replica of the Tree of Life dream, which is often found carved among the Mayan ruins. Super cool. We also got a bookmark for our scriptures with the Mayan glyph meaning "and it came to pass." Cool huh?

For Christmas eve, we started a new tradition (at least I hope it'll be). With very little effort, we dressed up the kids and Grandma read the nativity story from Luke 2. Collin/Joseph insisted on riding in on a donkey, because why should Janice/Mary get to have all the fun? The daddies/donkeys willingly obliged.

Brennan was our shepherd and didn't want to take off his costume, and Brianna was our angel and wouldn't keep her costume on. Funny how different kids can be.

 Here they all are together. Cute huh? I particularly love Brennan's sheep (aka Monkey Mike).

 My mom came up with perfect gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

After our play, the boys opened their new jammies. Thanks, Nana! They're adorable.

We love yukis at our house, and Brennan proudly exclaimed "tall, Tall, TALL" when he saw them. So cute. Then we all posed around the tree. Try to forget that Ryan and I are wearing the same jammies as last year; I was too lazy and cheap to do new ones.

Collin was the first one up Christmas morning, sleeping in all the way until 6:30. Sigh. I love his bed-head hair in this pic with his stocking. What a cutie. Too bad his black-eye was in full force Christmas morn.

Collin asked Santa for a stomp rocket, which I apparently forgot to take a picture of him with. Brennan asked for something different each day of December, including a ball and a hammer, so he got a squeaky hammer in his stocking and a hopper ball as his "Santa gift." He caught on to the hopper method instantly and hopped across the kitchen floor effortlessly. It was amazing.

I got my Kindle Fire HD, and I couldn't be happier. Almost done with my first book! Ryan got a Blue Ray player and new shaver.

My parents have a new game they play with us now. For several years now, we've received a check for Christmas. Last year they bought these silly trick boxes where you can see the money but you can't get it out without figuring out the trick to open it. This year was a pinball machine. Good thing I'm married to an engineer; I'm pretty sure I would never get my money otherwise!

Collin and Brennan got a grill and food to share, but Collin definitely has a stronger affection for it. Isn't my little chef adorable?

We all had a wonderful day. Merry Christmas! I hope each of your Christmases was as family-filled and joyous as ours. Here's to a wonderful new year!

Happy Last Day of the World! (aka C's bday)

It may not have been the last day of the world... but it was still Collin's 4th birthday!

We started the day with blueberry snowman pancakes with chocolate chip decor.

Side story: After decorating their yukis, Ryan went to cut Brennan's into bite-sized pieces. Brennan quickly protected his plate with his arms and said, "No cut. Owie. No cut yuki. Owie!" He insisted Ryan was going to hurt his snowman. So we all ate our breakfast while Brennan stared at his yuki. After a minute or two, he pushed his plate over to Ryan and said, "Cut yuki. Eat!" It was adorable. I guess hunger over-powered his protective instincts.

While Mom cleaned up breakfast, the boys headed out to tackle the icy driveway. Our "blizzard" was hardly a dusting, but we definitely had INSANE winds yesterday. And since the snow came after 24 hours of torrential rain, there's some crazy ice under it. The doors and garage were totally layered in a thin sheet of ice. Yep, we were living in glass house.

As requested by the birthday boy, we went as a family (Ryan used his last vacation day) to Monkey Joe's. It is a bounce house with slides and stuff for the kids. Ryan's never been, and we were the only family there for 40 minutes. It was awesome. Tons of fun. The sign may say "No Adults on jumping houses" but hey - we were definitely "assisting children under the age of 4" ...most of the time. Good times for everyone. I was exhausted! Happy birthday, big boy.

For lunch we headed to Culver's, also by request of the honoree. Unfortunately, there was a bus in the parking lot and a restaurant FULL of middle schoolers. We all survived, lol. A kind teacher let us cut in line, and the food came crazy fast. We also enjoyed some interesting gossip while eating. Reminded me of my days in sixth grade.

After nap time (Collin rarely naps anymore, and today was no exception - He did about an hour and a half of quiet time instead), we ate Culver's ice cream cake. After running away fearfully, Collin did return to the table for the birthday song and (unlike last year) blew out LIT candles. Hooray!

Lastly, we opened presents on the web cam with Nana. Coll got a fleece sheet set, tinker toys and a new game for his Leapster. <-- Mom's sanity, fingers crossed, on the car ride tomorrow.

Yep, the world may not have ended, but I have a four-year-old in my house. How did this happen!?

PS: In case you noticed his left eye... He fell last night getting ready for bed (just in time for birthday pictures) and slammed into the board books on the book shelf. For real owie.

Retirement?

I think I should take early retirement... from blogging, that is. I never blog anymore, and I never even see anything in my life worth blogging about. I seem to have run dry of all creativity, not to mention of the energy to share something of any interest to anyone at all. Sigh.

Is this the winter drearies settling in early this year? AHHH! It's gonna be an extra long winter...

In the style of my super-blogger sister-in-law, I'll post some bullets of our life:

• We have had a stomach bug the last two months. Since getting our carpet (Oct 23rd), Brennan has thrown up in bed twice, and Collin has once. I have gotten both illnesses, each for only about a day. Bleck. Two bouts of ickiness in just less than a month?! 
• Collin hates preschool. He says that school days aren't happy days. Most of the time he goes without argument, but he does so because he is generally pretty obedient, and he knows his mom wants him to. We pick up a neighbor boy on Wednesdays so they arrive together, because that day is generally his harder day. It seems to be helping. He tells me he doesn't talk to anyone there either. He sits on the line in the gym for indoor recess, and he stands by his teacher on the playground for outdoor recess.  It breaks my heart.
• I teach my boys Science Time each week. It should be more aptly called Science & Social Studies Time, but Collin loves Syd the Science Kid (PBS), so Science Time it is. Each boy has a science notebook, and we sing a welcome song (I wrote it and Collin knows all the words, lol), read a book from the library, and do an experiment or craft. Some topics we've covered this school year so far: apples, pumpkins, Columbus, Thanksgiving, gingerbread, float/sink, magnetism, electricity, balanced eating, meal manners. We all love it, and it is a bright star in each of my dreary weeks.
• I love book clubs. I regularly attend a monthly meeting at our library. The kids play with toys while the women talk about the book. I am sometimes the only one with a kid (Collin is at school), but I love it. We've read some good stuff this year: selections from Poe, The Book Thief, The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society, Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. I also am invited to participate in a club with some sisters from the ward, but Ryan without fail has a church meeting during it, and we aren't allowed to bring our kids. I haven't been able to go since... March? Thank goodness for kid-friendly book clubs. It's my sanity.
• Ryan is singing in a stake choir for a special concert of Selections from the Messiah. We've invited our neighbors, and I think one set might even come! It has been hard on the fam (every Sunday evening for the last few months), but he is so happy when he's singing that it makes it easier on me to let him go. The concert is next weekend, and after three practices and two concerts in seven days, we'll be ready to have our daddy back.
• Brennan throws a tantrum each and every time we go shopping. Let me tell you what Christmas-errand running has been like... Actually, no. I'll let you just imagine for yourself - and then multiply that awfulness by 10! Yep, it's that bad. Sigh.
• I host our ward's playgroup each Friday morning. Sometimes we have more people than can be handled, and sometimes it is just me and my boys. I've been planning it for more than two years, and I think I need to retire. I'll have to start shopping for a replacement...
• Brennan is obsessed with hitting. He particularly loves hammers. He likes to say it three times in succession with increasing volume (think staccato): hammer, Hammer, HAMMER! Ryan has tried to teach him "little hammer," which is a tapping index finger that says "tick, tick, tick," but he definitely prefers the violent version. Go figure.
• I am the room mother for Collin's preschool class. It was easy enough until this month: teacher's half-birthday and baby shower this week, Collin's birthday party on Monday, and the Christmas party on Wednesday. Yikes. Luckily, there are a ton of moms who do just about everything, so I just try to be there. Unfortunately, we aren't allowed to bring our younger children, and I've called in every favor ever owed for people to keep Brennan for me. I guess I'll be skipping some preschool events.
• Collin has three loves in life: Science Time, Family Home Evening and Playgroup.
• Brennan has had nearly perpetual diarrhea and diaper rash for more than six weeks. At first, it was stomach bug #1. Then I think it was his two-year molars. Now I've decided it is stomach bug #2. In summary, I changed SEVEN dirty diapers in 8 hours on Friday. That's... wrong.  
• Brennan has three loves in life: hammers, time out (or so it seems) and pestering anyone and everyone. What a boy.
• Ryan and I have had a dating frenzy of late: his work Christmas party last Friday, the Nutcracker last Saturday, and the Messiah this Saturday. Hooray! I love dates!
• My parents came for Collin's first primary program. He did AWESOME with his part. It was almost like he didn't even know he was supposed to get nervous. He's never sang with the primary in sacrament meeting (Mother's Day & Father's Day), but he trooped up there and sat on the stand with his class with no problem. He was super wiggly and hardly sang a word, but he's not even four yet, so I didn't mind. I was just so proud of him for doing his part!
• Ryan is awesome. Surprised? Since Joliet, he has come home nearly every evening at 5:30 to eat dinner with us as a family. He leaves for work about 7:45. He does his huge calling, his home teaching, takes care of his feverish wife (stupid flu), and changes his share of diarrhea diapers. Love you, babe!
• We hosted Thanksgiving this year. My mom did all the work (for real), and we invited a few friends over. We had nine adults and five children. We had nine pies for dessert too. Just the kind of balance I like. :-)
• I always tell the boys I love them when I put them to bed at night. Last week one night Brennan said, "Love you, Mama." It was awesome. It almost made me forget about the shopping-tantrums. Almost.
• Collin made me a get-well card at school today without any prompting or prodding from the teacher. They have a mail box where they can write letters during Center Time, and he chose to write one to me, and then he asked his teacher if he could bring it home. Yep, he talked to his teacher! It melted my heart.
• Now blogger says I can't upload photos without paying a monthly fee. My blog just isn't worth that to me anymore. Maybe I'll start a new one. Maybe I really will take an early retirement. I guess it's meant to be.

Were my bullets random enough for you? Did you make it through? If you did, congrats. If you didn't, that's why I don't blog anymore. I just can't think of anything to keep my readership. So, signing off.

Our "New" House

A photo essay of our "new" house...

 

Disclaimers: I didn't do any special cleaning. The boys love to be in pictures. All basement pics are missing the baseboards and other things, as noted. Upstairs pics are just to admire the carpet. :-) And as I look through the pics, I think we need a new camera. Everything looks better in person, I swear.

MASTER BEDROOM

NURSERY (BEDROOM #2)

 

BOY ROOM (BEDROOM #3)

GUEST ROOM (BEDROOM #4)

August

August

No furniture to speak of yet, but at least there's a bed with blankets and pillows.

Today

LIVING ROOM

FAMILY ROOM (PLAY ROOM)

August

August

September

 Ha ha. Look at this mess. At least they love it, and I don't have to look at it!

Today

FAMILY ROOM (THEATER)

August

August

 Need some wall decor and throw pillows. Also need baseboards and some "prettying" of the electronics in the corner.

EXERCISE ROOM

August

August

 Still need to raise the tv a few inches and put in the baseboard, but everything works great!

Today

BASEMENT OFFICE (CRAFT ROOM)

August

Still needs some more work organizing, but I couldn't be happier!

Today

KITCHENETTE

August

Countertop and cabinet are not officially mounted yet, and obviously it's totally cluttered with tools too. There's a microwave inside the cabinet we'll put on top when we're really done with construction. We plan to stain the post black. There will be a gap at the end of the cabinet for a fridge... some day.

Today

Oh you can also see we still have to paint the french doors into the office/exercise space, which is why it's open in this pic.

 

And that concludes the tour of our home. We are so happy. There's still lots of finishing (like filling all the nail holes in the mouldings, sigh) but at least it's all usable space now. Hooray for doubling our house size!