I think this is all of them that didn't load right or got cut off on the last post...

Nice weekend...

Jeff actually took two whole days off!!  It has been a LONG time since he had more than just a few hours of sleep and time to just do nothing if that's what he decided to do.  We didn't do a whole lot of nothing... 

Saturday morning we went sledding.  Connor fell asleep in the car so he missed out on the first session.  There were quite a few people there and they all kept commenting on how crazy Brenan was.  He is not scared to go fast, he hangs on over the bumps, goes flying, and just lands where he lands.  He borrowed the round plastic thing from one of the families there, the kids didn't like it because it went to fast and it spins around as you go down.  Brenan LOVED it!  He said it was "totally awesome!". 

On one of the trips down, Jeff and Brenan were both on the sled and there were people walking up the sled hill, instead of moving over into the powdery stuff..  During the process of trying to not kill anyone, Jeff put his feet out and tried to stop.  It sprayed snow all over Brenan and he didn't think that was cool.  Then he was really not happy to find out that it had also broken the sled almost in two.  We left and went to the store to buy another one and then went back.  The second time around, Connor woke up and was able to join the fun.  He doesn't even cry when they crash or stop quickly and he face-plants into the snow.. just lays there and waits for someone to come and get him.

After we got done sledding, we went to Burger King and got lunch, actually ate inside because Brenan thinks he never gets to eat inside and I guess he thinks it's more fun or something.  When we got done eating, we went home and got our swimsuits on and went to the recreation center.  It was supposed to be open swim from 1:30-6.  We got there at about a quarter to 2 and they had had a swim meet that morning so it was still closed, even though it had been cleaned and was ready for use.  We were told that the lifeguards weren't there yet as the reason they didn't just open it.  We paid and went in and played table tennis and Brenan played on the slide by the climbing wall.  He really wanted to try to climb, but he was wearing snowboots and they said that he had to have tie-up shoes, so that didn't make him happy either.  We tried to keep ourselves entertained for the hour and fifteen minutes we had to wait for the pool to open.  There were millions of kids there with no parents, even though they are not supposed to be there without supervision.  Found out after being there a little while that at least three of the lifeguards were there and playing pool at the other end of the building, so they technically could have opened the pool and let people in.  That did not make us happy.  Anyway... 3pm finally rolled around and we got to go into the pool.  My boys are definately NOT afraid of water.  They were both jumping off the edges of the pool, whether there was someone there to catch them or not.  They loved the little slides and water fountains.  Their favorite thing is the current channel.  They love going around that circle.  I don't know about Jeff, but my legs were TIRED after we got done.  Connor kept trying to take off to play with every one else in the water and then he would tip over.  I think he scared more than one of the lifeguards... haha.   I was always within reach and got him up and standing again.. and he would just grin at me and take off again.  We had a blast!  They both fell asleep on the way home from the pool.  We had some tired boys!  Connor took a nap while I made dinner and the rest of us ate. 

Sunday, they both slept in until almost 9am, so we skipped church instead of waking them up to get ready.  We had breakfast, I was the short order cook, waitress, and dishwasher...  Then we got showers and dressed and headed out again.  We drove to Tabiona and picked up a puppy for Grandma Rosie.  Connor thought it was great fun!  Both boys wanted to hold and hug the puppy all the way home so Jeff took her and she cuddle up inside his jacket and napped most of the way home.  She could not have found a warmer or more comfortable person to sleep on.  We took her down to Grandmas house and stayed there for a few hours visiting and playing before we came home.  We got our comfy clothes on and sat on the couch watching the football game, the hockey game, the Simpsons movie, and Open Season... flipping channels between them during commercials.  Then it was bedtime again.  Kids both went to sleep fairly easily and Jeff fell asleep on the couch. 

This morning Jeff had to go back to work.  He is now on his way back to North Dakota for a few days.  Here's hoping he does not get snowed in or tipped over with the wind and can come back to us safely!

All in all, it was a great weekend!

UGH... sick kids!

I HATE having sick kids.  I would much rather be sick myself than have my babies not feel well.  I hate knowing that they are in pain or just plain not feeling well and I can't do anything about it other than sit and hold them and love them and try to keep it under control.  Connor could not breathe last night and he had a terrible time.. poor baby.. he loves his little thumb and he was trying to suck it to soothe himself but could not breathe through his nose.  He would suck two or three times and then have to open his mouth and breathe.  I felt so bad for him, at the same time as I was thinking how sweet and cute he is to figure out a way to still get his thumb time in.   We spent most of the night in the recliner rocker reclined back and with him wiggling every couple minutes trying to find the most comfortable position and failing as miserably as I was at that goal.  We then switched to the couch to see if it was better so that he could actually lay on me instead of trying to stay upright on my lap.  He did not seem to like that idea any better and squirmed his way down to the feet end of the couch and laid between my legs and the back of the couch, his arms flopped up over his head hanging off the arm of the couch.  Good thing he kept his legs still, one push and he would have toppled over the end.  We stayed that way until Jeff got up to go to work, then we moved into the bedroom.  He crawled up the pillows until he was almost on top of the headboard, and fell asleep.  The Tylenol must have kicked in at that point, I don't know why it hadn't worked the rest of the night, but he actually got some sleep finally.  I hope he gets over it quickly, I can't take too many nights like that and stay sane.

I figured it out....

I think I have figured out why I don't keep up with this as much as I thought I would. I don't get any feedback. When I read other people's blogs, I also like to read the comments they get. I very rarely get any. I know that there are not a lot of people keeping track of this, because I have no friends, but still.....

New Year's Resolutions....

I have a hard time with making resolutions, I have never actually accomplished any that I have set. I think it is because I pick too big of projects for myself. This year, I decided that I was going to go easy on myself. I have a huge list, but they are all do-able. It also helps that I have a jump start on some of them so it will just be a continuation of things I am already doing until it becomes second nature. They are in no particular order, just wrote them down as I thought of them.

Make it to church at least 3 out of the 4 Sundays a month. I would like to have 100% attendance, but I am trying to be realistic here.

Finish the Book of Mormon all the way through. I have done this only once in my life, and I have a head start on it as I am already more than half way through.

Keep up with my blog better so people can know what is going on in our lives. I have to be able to do better than one post every three or four months, right?

Have a date night with my husband at least once a month. This is one that I would like to have happen once a week, but-once again-I am trying to be realistic.

Keep my house more organized and de-cluttered. This does not include the toys on the floor, because that is just not going to happen anytime soon.

Stick to the budget. Stick to the budget. Stick to the budget... Jeff and I both have problems with this one. When there is money in our pockets, or in our checking account, we are pretty loose with what we buy.

Continue putting money in savings accounts. I have an emergency account, a vacation fund, and a regular savings account. I also plan on doing an account for each of the boys, I just didn't have their social security numbers when I went in to set them up.

Get healthier. Does not mean losing weight, although I need to do that, I am just not going to have that be the whole goal.

Pay off my car. It was paid for when I bought it, but we borrowed money against it to buy the Peterbilt and start the business. I liked having it paid for.

There are more and there are bigger ones, and they are more like 2 or 3 year goals so I will quit there. There are just so many ways to improve myself, it was hard to narrow it down.

Hockey game

For the last three years, Jeff and I have been lucky enough to get to go to an Avalanche game. We have seen some awesome games and even more amazing players. The first one we went to was against the Redwings, Av's lost and the Redwings went on to win the cup. Then, last year, we went to the Penguins game. Av's won and the Penguins went on to win the cup. This year, we went to the Capitals game. Av's lost but we still got to see some of the best players in the league. We told some of the Capital's fans about our streak and they thanked us for choosing them, so we will have to keep track and see if it holds up another year.

Thank you, my husband for a great time!

Family Christmas Party

We have a family party every year. Last year I was in charge of planning it and took out one of the traditions trying to lessen the mess. Alison, the sweetheart that she is, put the tradition back in. We were all having fun and making a huge mess in her house so we could have our gingerbread houses. Thank you Alison for such a great time!

Here is Brenan's house. I did not get a picture of the one I did for Connor. Connor was more interested in eating the candy off of it than putting anything ON it... but it was still cute!

Happy Halloween!

Yes, I know it's January of the next year but I was a slacker ok???

Here are my boys on Halloween. While walking through the store looking at costumes, I kept pointing out all the "cool" things that most boys would want to be... ninja, starwars trooper, race car driver, spiderman, batman,... you know.. the normal things. No, that just wouldn't do for my Brenan. He insisted he had to be a doctor. And he wanted to be a doctor that was cutting someone, so we splattered his costume with red food coloring to make it look like he was blood-splattered from surgery. He thought it was awesome!




Connor was a puppy, and he was so good about letting me put that goop on his face. Brenan wore this same costume but he was older when he wore it and he understood a little bit more about what we were doing. Poor little Connor just could not figure out why I dressed him up in that thing, slimed him with stuff that I would normally be wiping OFF, and went to stand in line for hours to do the governors walk. He was sitting in his stroller looking up at me like I was insane and he just could not for the life of him figure out WHAT I was thinking!

I love this picture because it shows off his cute little tail. When I made this costume for Brenan I was a little upset at how short the tail was, but once I got it on him and saw him walk in it, it was perfect. It actually wags when they walk in it! It is hilarious!

Here is Brenan and his splattered doctor outfit. He refused to wear the stethoscope, although it was his favorite piece of the costume to play with. This was also the only time I got him to wear the mask.

I was a total slacker mom when it comes to Jack-O-Lanterns... this was the only one we did. He had to have something orange for preschool to take to show and tell and he loved those little pumpkins, so I got him one to make a face on. Poor thing was half rotted by the time we got a picture of it, but he was pretty proud of it anyway.