draw much?? nah.

yesterday was ben's kindergarten screening. he did great. he answered all of the questions perfectly and did just what the lady asked.

HOWEVER ... when it came time to draw a picture of himself near the end it was obvious that ben had just about had enough. she gave him a piece of paper and a pencil and told him to draw a picture of himself. he drew a circle and then looked at her. she said "that's nice. did you have anything else you wanted to add to it?" ben said "no. not really." he had enough. he was done. he had no interest in impressing her with any more of his skills. ha ha.

he is such a boy.

n is for ...

drew's teacher told me today that drew had a smart moment today at school. they were talking about the letter 'n' and 'n' sounds. so they were talking about words that start with the letter 'n'.
being the overachiever that he is, drew had to show up everyone in his class:

"N is for Nonfat toffee nut latte with whipped cream and extra toffee nut."

now ... do you think we go to starbucks too often??

idol thoughts

as of tonight i have decided that i would like to see a jordin vs blake final.

i know ... i know ... it's hard to pass up sanjayas wonderful ponytail mohawk and all.

but ... i have always liked blake. he brings something different and modern to the table and i like that about him. plus ... i love his beat boxing and rhythm. i didn't really have any other favorites. but, tonight jordin convinced me she should be my other favorite.

we'll see how they do next week and if my feelings change.
but as of now my votes are for blake and jordin. (although not officially because i'm too lazy to actually call)

**and i am making note that i think that votefortheworst.com may give sanjaya a fighting chance. i think it is absolutely hilarious that he is going to be in the top 10 tour :) those guys are so clever! why can't i come up with ideas like that.**

i'm being watched

at eaglebrook we're in the middle of a series on parenting. the first week bob talked about love vs limits and how the 2 need to be balanced. he also talked about how there are 3 main stages in a child's life. from 0-7 is the regulation stage where we set the boundaries and they learn the rules basically. from 7-13 is imitation. they want to be like us and do everything the way that we do it. then from 13 on is inspiration. this is where everything that has happened in the past 13 years is tested and we see how well we did ;)
this week he went deeper into the whole imitation thing. he talked about how our goal should be to raise responsible adults that love God, honor their family and contribute to society. of course it is something we've heard SO many times before. but, it was encouraging and empowering to hear it again.
i tell myself often that i need to be the kind of person that i want my kids to be. that i can't expect them to be something i am not. but it's so easy to tell myself that and then forget it moments later.
bob played 2 music videos. one was the song "watching you" -- for those of you that haven't heard it it's a country song. it's about a dad and his little boy. rather than explain it ... just read these lyrics)http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rodneyatkins/watchingyou.html
what a great song!!
he closed with the kelly clarkson video "because of you". apparently her parents were married for like 17 years and then got divorced. i have heard the song a million times but after seeing the video i have a brand new appreciation for the song! it left me choked up. how do our kids see our relationship? it made me want to not only be a mommy that they can watch and learn from, but a daddy/mommy/husband/wife team that they can learn from as well. SO many kids out there today have no idea what a functional relationship is. it is so important to me that my kids see that. i want to model how to communicate. i want to model how to handle conflict. i want to model unconditional love. i think SO many divorces today happen because kids don't understand what that is. and i want my kids to beat the statistics!
summed up ... the past 2 weeks have been really good sermons and i'm excited for this next sunday. if you have time you can listen or watch the messages online at http://www.eaglebrookchurch.com let me know what you think if you check them out :)

i read this quote at the scrapbook store last week and it basically sums up how i'm feeling and what my goal is. "my dad didn't tell me how to live. he just lived and let me watch."

i'm working on shutting my mouth and letting my heart do the teaching.

our little stunt man

now that the weather is nice we're taking bets on how long it will be before ben is in the hospital with a broken limb.

today's adventure was jumping (yes that is both feet at the same time) on to the skateboard and coasting down the driveway (yes it is a hill) -- laughing the entire time!

anyone feeling lucky?

a day for hanging out

today made me so anxious for summer. (CONSTANT warm weather ... sadly i'm sure we're still going to have 1 big snow storm before it's all said and done)

today i got to experience some of my favorite things. i was able to:

*walk around barefoot outside

*wear my tevas everywhere i went

*run errands with the kids -- NO COATS NEEDED!

*enjoy fresh air from open windows

*drive with the windows down

*sit outside and talk with the neighbors and not feel like i would rather rush inside to escape the cold.

and most importantly -- i got to just hang out with the boys!

we are ALL anxious for summer!

summer lovin

i've done it again. i've realized that when i did my list of things i love i forgot one of my other top loves.

(probably because i was writing my list in the middle of a MN winter! ICK!)

it was a beautiful day here today. it was in the 60's and we loved every second of it. it made me SO anxious to pull out my tevas. once they come out they are basically the only shoe i wear until ... oh about november :) i have them in 6 different colors and am hoping to add to my collection this summer!

for anyone that i haven't already converted - they are the teva olowahu. they are the most incredible flip flops ever.

they are my summer love.

6 years later

as i sat thinking about drew and how much he has grown and changed in the past 6 years i decided it wasn't fair just to look at him. stacey and i have also changed SO much. stacey has gone from having a gotee to not having one (thank God). my hair is much lighter. our waist sizes have gone up and down (and up and down and up and down - many times opposite of each other). we've also changed in not just physical ways. our relationship has been strained by job losses, miscarriages, and well just day to day living. but we have been through it all together and have built a relationship that is much stronger today than it was 6 years ago.

i decided to pull up a few pictures to give you some examples of our physical changes.

first we have just our standard "family picture" from 2001. (don't we look young?!)

next ... i figured it wouldn't be right to not include a picture of stacey with chin pubs ;) (now .. i have to add ... stacey thinks he was so cool when this was a part of his life -- PLEASE comment and give your opinion ... and remember this is my blog and we're trying to encourage him and let him know how fantastic he looks without ;))

and finally - we have the here and now -- stacey and i as parents of 3 kids - do we look good or what?! ha ha!

stacey -- you are my best friend and you are an incredible daddy. i love being on this amazing journey with you. we have come so far in 6 years and i am so happy that you've been the one next to be along the way. i love you baby -- gray hairs and all :)

good housekeeping tip

sometimes i feel like no matter now much time i spend cleaning by the end of the day my house still looks the same and i'm still buried in the same pile of laundry :)

so when i came across this tip from maxine i got a chuckle out of it and figured i should share it. i figure that some of you must feel the same way i do at least some of the time :) i hope you find it useful!

Always keep several get well cards on the mantle..... so if unexpected guests arrive, they will think you've been sick and unable to clean.

off to madugasgare

as of today, drew has decided that he can skip us on his hunt for knowledge. he has found that what we know is beans. that there is a source that has MUCH MUCH MUCH more to offer.

today drew discovered google.

now, we have talked about it before. he has asked many questions that we haven't been able to give a good enough answer for and we have told him we'd google it for him.

but today he decided to experience it for himself. so when he wanted to find out how to play the madagascar game they had played at the Y - he took it into his own hands. or rather ... he put it into google's.

he went to google and typed in "madugasgare". then, because google is so smart it asked him "did you mean madagascar?"

WELL OF COURSE! so he clicked on it. that pulled up a few pictures from the movie which of course he recognized so he clicked on one of those.

that was the point where i realized what he was doing and told him that he probably wasn't going to find what he was looking for because you have to buy that game to be able to play it at home.

but ... the fact that he was able to get that far on his own ... WOW! you really do get smart when you turn 6!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DREW!

it's hard to believe where we were 6 years ago. we were just starting out on our journey as parents. i could have never imagined how incredible the next 6 years would be. of course we have our days -- but as a whole it has been the most incredible journey ever and i can't imagine life any other way!

drewby -- you amaze me more and more each day. you are so smart. you are so kind. and you are so loving. i am SO glad that God gave me you when he did. i love you SO SO SO much! i hope your birthday is as special to you as you are to me. you make me so happy!

happy 6th birthday buddy!

sunny days

this is drew and his teacher, mrs. kucinski. on thursday night we went for family fun night at drew's school. we got to hear the kindergarteners sing us a few songs and then they shared a poem about the weather. this was the first real "concert" he's had and they did a great job!
as we were there i thought back to when i was in elementary school and how things have changed. my first thought was REAL DEEP! ha ha. it was about how lucky we as parents are these days because we only have to listen to our kids. i remember back when i was in school and my parents had to sit through every grade's concert. now they give specific times for when the kids will be singing and you go and just hear their grade sing. although it would have been fun to watch the other kids for a while - i imagine it would've gotten REALLY long!
while i was there i also thought about something that as i spend time at the school i'm discovering more and more and it's kind of sad (whew! long sentence) --parents are so busy. i'm going to step on a ledge and say too busy. since september i have only met the parents of 3 kids in drew's class. and 2 of them have been while dropping drew off at bday parties. the other is a mom that has had lunch with her little boy a few of the same days that i have had lunch with drew. she has also helped with the classroom parties i have helped with. besides us, i don't know that mrs. kucinski gets much help. in fact, at conferences in october i told mrs. kucinski to call me if she needed help with anything and she seemed surprised and said i was the first person to offer. i don't say that to pat myself on the back. i say it more out of shock that out of the 40 other families she has noone else would have offered to help her before that! another example that kind of bothered me - the first week of school we had a meeting with the kindergarten teachers to go over expectations for the year and curriculum. about 11 parents showed up for mrs. kucinski's meeting. now figure she has 40 students between the A and B classes. of the 11 parents a few were couples. so that means MAYBE 8 of the kids were represented. that just seems crazy to me. i was so anxious to find out more about drew's school and what kindergarten would be like for him! i couldn't imagine missing the meeting that talked about what the rest of the year looked like for him! now, i don't want to overdo it and be "that mom" that is always at school. but i do want them to know that i support them 100% and i want to help them help my kids be excited about learning. teachers are placed in such tough situations these days with so many parents so removed. they are expected to take on so much more than i really think they should have to. in my opinion what ends up happening is the busyness of the parents just falls right back on to the already over worked teacher - and then we wonder why it's hard to find teachers and why so many kids are so messed up! *SIGH*
ANYWAY ...
it's been a fun year. drew's teacher is SUCH a sweetheart. she does an incredible job with the kids. everyday drew comes home excited about something new that they learned or did and she is a big reason for his excitement! i had NO idea what to expect this year going in -- but i can truly say that it's been more fun than i expected! i'm excited for all of the years to follow!

our unexpected visitor

yesterday while the boys were taking a bath - someone showed up at our house. he called himself CrabBoy. this "CrabBoy" looked silly and was actually quite crabby. (in fact, as the day went on, drew started picking up on some of CrabBoy's crabby tricks as well.)

alex was not amused.

CrabBoy thought he was pretty funny.

alex and i were really glad when CrabBoy and his partner in crime decided it was time for them to go to sleep for the night.

a little off the top

last night we decided it was time to cut alex's hair. i really didn't want to because once they get their first hair cut they look so much older! but alex's had just gotten to be too long. so we went to snip its! today. he did great! at first he was overly fascinated with the lady's pink comb. this made it tough to do his cut because he kept trying to look at it. but, once she surrendered the comb and let him have it - everything went smooth. they got out some bubbles and put on a show with some fun songs to try to keep him occupied also. but, really the comb was all that he cared about. and when he was done he got a green top as a toy. another example of a simple thing that provides SO much delight. on the ride home he didn't care about the numerous SASSY toys that drew tried to show him. all he wanted was the little green top.

now on to the pictures ....

FIRST .. the before picture

NEXT an action shotAND the finished product (notice the TWO teeth)

human for sale

no i'm not referring to any of my kids. as of today they can still stay around for a while.
i came across this fun website.
www.humanforsale.com
basically you answer different questions about yourself and then it spits out a $ amount of "what you are worth". different answers you give are worth different $$ amounts - from your age to your iq.

i was worth $2,010,024.

just think of what stacey could do with that much money!! don't tell him - he may see if he can find someone that would actually be willing to pay it! :) ha ha :)

*if you go to see how much you're worth leave it in my comments!!

inchin along

8 months and 9 days and it's time to get out a baby gate. alex is on the move. (well ... almost ...) at this point he is not getting anywhere fast. but i'm sure it won't be long. today he really started to master an inchworm/army crawl. i'm kind of excited! with drew of course i was excited for him to crawl. when ben started crawling at 6 months i wasn't at all ready. but with alex i feel like this is the perfect time. i think he is going to enjoy being able to follow the boys around. (i'm sure they'll love it at first too. ha ha) and i know he will enjoy being able to get his own toys! (as will i!)

i'm sure i'll probably be coming back to this blog a month from now and say "what was i thinking!" but for now ... you're doing a great job alex ... keep on movin ... :)

RAPIDO!

so ... i can't even believe it. my favorite team got kicked off of the amazing race by a team that i consider to be nothing more than a joke!
i thought of a few reasons why mirna and shmirna should be gone instead of rob and amber.
1. M&S whine about EVERYTHING! (that could be reason enough)
2. speaking english in a spanish accent does not help someone understand you if they don't speak english.
3. saying RAPIDO! 15 times will not make a driver go any faster than if you say it once.
4. if your partner is a little person you should probably not talk about your teams "short comings".
5. rob and amber are actually clever and it's fun to anticipate what they will do next.
6. because basically there aren't any other teams that i'm super excited to watch. i think it would've been smart for the producers to find a way to keep them in the game. i'm sure it would've helped their ratings!

i guess i'm going to have to cheer for danny and oswald - just because i think they're funny. my favorite line -- "my manicurist would die if she saw me doing this right now!" HA HA HA!

*feel free to add to my list of reasons :)

a cow in sketchers

i bet you didn't know that stacey is multi talented. not only is he great with computers. not only is he a great daddy. he is also a very fine cow. now ... he is not just any cow. he is a dancing, performing cow. HA HA!





tonight was a last minute Go Fish concert. (for those of you not familiar with Go Fish -- you should check them out -- go to www.gofishguys.com). we were planning on the kids watching the concert while we worked out at the table selling merchandise. WELL ... plans changed. stacey happened to be the only person around with "danced as a cow" on his resume. last year he had dressed up as the cow, lion, and horse at a few of the concerts. so tonight when there was noone else around - he stepped up as the perfect man for the job. drew and ben get such a kick out of it! and ... well ... so do i :)

so ... nice job stacey! way to be a good friend and a fun daddy!
i love you !

ben's plans

ben has informed me that he no longer wants to marry katie. he said that everyone from his class wants to marry her and so he doesn't want to anymore.

he's taking numbers if anyone is interested.

drew's secret

here stacey and i were trying so hard to figure out how to make perfect cookies and drew had the recipe for perfection the entire time.
this picture is a recipe drew wrote at school. he told me that it tells us how to make perfect cookies. DOH! if i would've just asked him in the first place i would've saved myself a lot of time!

DECODER
cookey - cookie
sooger - sugar
gres - grease

brotherly love

tonight when we got home from church drew was so excited about something. he said he had been thinking and he had a great idea but he couldn't tell us what it was. when ben went to get in bed tonight we discovered what drew's idea was. drew had stuck this note (for those that don't have children learning to write what they hear it says "you are a special kid") along with a candy bar on ben's pillow.

now, to know ben is to know that his love language is DEFINITELY words of affirmation. he is our little encourager. he thrives on getting told how much he is loved and he does a great job of using words to make other people feel special as well. he's always there saying "good job drew." or "you look nice mommy." and when he sees your smile because of what he said, he just glows.

so tonight when drew surprised him with this note he was SO happy. he kept telling drew thank you. he kept telling drew how excited he was. he went to sleep holding on to the note. i offered to put it on the dresser. but, he would not part with it. you could just see that drew really had made him feel like he was a special kid.

good job drew. you were a really nice big brother today.

where's ben?

ben is gifted.

you see, ben can fall asleep anywhere. when he gets tired it does not matter what is going on around him. he just goes to sleep. he has fallen asleep on on a chair in the middle of mcdonalds by the children's museum. he has fallen asleep in the middle of a go fish concert (sorry jamie!) . he has fallen asleep in the middle of the mall (many times).

so it shouldn't surprise me when he decides to crash in an odd spot. but ... sometimes it still does. and tonight is worth mentioning.

ben had fallen asleep in the car while running to the grocery store. so when we got back home i carried him inside and laid him on the rug in the entry way while i went to get alex. he stayed there. we made dinner and he slept the entire time on the rug. well, i decided to wake him up for dinner. as we finished eating he was still sleepy so we told him he could go brush his teeth and get ready for bed. well after dinner we didn't know where ben was. we knew he had gone upstairs but we didn't know where.

well... stacey won this round of "where's ben".

ben had gone to sleep under a pile of couch cushions.

the first picture is the intial "hiding spot".

the second picture is a little while later when he decided to give himself away - but remain asleep.

silly ben.

REWARD OFFERED FOR CAPTURE OF MYSTERIOUS CREATURE!!

there is a mysterious creature living at our house. we don't know what he looks like. we don't know where he has set up camp. we actually don't know if it is a he - it could very well be a she. whatever the case, it is causing quite a stir.
i like to think that i know where most everything at our house is. i like to think i am fairly organized. however this creature has misplaced the following as of tonight:
1 game boy
1 pair of blue camo mittens
1 pair of little gray bear mittens
2 brand new shirts from target (tags still on)
1 gap sock (actually just 1 that i know of - i'm POSITIVE there are many other little bitty gap socks missing as well)
1 scrapbook washer with the word "love" on it
i have looked everywhere that i can think of and cannot find any of these items or the creature that i'm sure has stolen them.
so please be on the lookout.
and if for some reason i should miss a few days of blogging and you don't hear from me - let someone know - this creature may have gotten me.

the sweetest sound

drew has discovered something that makes alex laugh. EVERY SINGLE TIME! if alex starts to get fussy, drew just starts doing this and alex starts to giggle. it is so fun!

i am so thankful that alex has 2 big brothers that love to pay attention to him and help take care of him!! hopefully some day he will be too!

*keep in mind while watching this that i had to record it from a hidden spot so that alex didn't notice me because then he would've stopped. so yes i realize the laundry basket and the chair are in my way :) te he he :)

measuring cups and doorstops

alex reminded me of something today. he reminded me that we make life way too complex.
i needed to take a shower and, as always, i brought alex into the bathroom with me. i supplied him with a pile of toys that i was sure would keep him busy. well, the entire time that i was in the shower he ignored the pile of toys i had given him. he didn't care about the bright colors. he didn't care about the squeaks they make when you squeeze them. and he didn't care about the cute characters that babies are supposed to love. all he cared about was the door stopper. he sat and pulled it and made it BOING!! the entire time i showered.
i thought about it and just smiled. we fill our houses with expensive toys and, well, junk. we spend hours searching stores and the internet for the perfect gift or the perfect toy.
BUT .. when it comes time to really keep him busy what does he play with -
*in the bathroom he plays with the door stop.
*in the kitchen he plays with measuring cups and plastic spoons.
*in the living room he would prefer to play with the remote or the phone.

i watched oprah the other day and she was interviewing a family that lived in a 250 sq ft apartment/condo. i thought to myself "man they're crazy!" after watching alex today i got to thinking about them and, well, i still think they are crazy. but i think they might be on to something.

a smarter rescue

well ... the storm is finally gone.

however ... it didn't want us to forget it quickly. it left quite a reminder in our yard!

it's amazing to look outside and think that we had grass just over a week ago. now all we see is white. (as you can see from the picture above it has passed the slide on the boys climbing cube.)

the boys went outside and played again today. they even created a clearance so that they can still swing! they're having a lot of fun with all of the snow. the only problem is that because it all came at once it's not very packed down - so they sink. and since ben isn't all that tall, it takes quite a bit of effort for him to get anywhere. so they hadn't been out very long when ben got stuck (again). this time, however, i happened to be watching them play. AND ... stacey happened to be working from home so i sent him out to play rescuer. i hate to admit it, but he is a much smarter rescuer. he went to get ben with a shovel. he didn't just rescue him - he created a shoveled path from the back door to the swing set! AND he convinced ben that he didn't need to come back inside and that he should play longer!

now that is a successful rescue!!

i also have to add how smart the other dads in the neighborhood are.

brian took his snowblower and plowed a path through their front yard for the boys to play in.

and deric hadn't cleared his driveway yet - so he brought in a buddy -- and his bobcat/front loader to do the job!

now that's a good friend to have on a day like today!

i hope everyone else that got snow is enjoying it! and if you didn't get any -- come visit! we'll share!

ROAR!

march definitely came in like a lion at our house! we are in the middle of quite a snow storm.
another of our nice neighbors came to snow blow our driveway today so i sent the boys over to thank him with some fresh chocolate chip cookies. this was all it took for the boys to decide they wanted to brave the storm and get in a little outside play time. they were out front for a very short time and then i didn't see them for a bit. there weren't foot prints in the back. and they weren't out playing with ellie, their dog friend, on the side. SO ... i decided i should put on my boots just to check where they were. (and of course took my camera with me). well they were hiding behind this snow drift. HOWEVER ... they had both lost their boots in it because of how deep it was. SO ... being the smart kids that they are, they were waiting for me to come rescue them! now, ben was not too difficult to rescue. he is still pretty small and i can carry him without too much work. but, drew is half my size. and the snow was up to my thighs. so there was no way i was "rescuing" him by carrying him out. it took much convincing, but i FINALLY got him to, in his socks, follow quickly in my boot prints and then to hop on my back once we got to the driveway. at that point i finished my rescue mission and rescued the boots that were seriously lodged into this mound that would've been up to at least my waist had i sunk in.
i came inside to find both of the boys up on drew's bunk laying next to each other warming up and talking about how they thought they were going to be stuck out there all day.
i have since told them that should they ever be on another dangerous mission and find themselves caught in the snow it is smarter to run inside in socks than to wait for a rescuer - because the rescuer may not be aware of the mission and toes freeze quickly.

some sunshine for your day

no i don't know these kids.
i was looking through the one step ahead catalog today and i came across this item.
THE SUN SMARTIES COVERALL
The coverall with 98% UV protection! Sunblock wears off, and kids won't stay in the shade for long. The solution? Our coverall, with built-in UV protection that blocks the sun wherever they go! Made of lightweight, breathable nylon, with a Coolmax lined hood and shoulder panel for added ventilation. Quick-drying (so an impromptu swim is no problem!).
ok ... seriously. does anyone really buy these?? would any of you really put your kids in one of these "sun suits" when you were at the beach? (or admit it now after i have completely made fun of them. ha ha!)
the only thing i can envision these being used for is a SNL skit.
ok i lied, i can see how it could be used for a child who is allergic to the sun and this is the only possible way that they can go out. HOWEVER that is not how it is advertised. (if it was advertised that way i would be acting completely different towards it.)
i got a laugh out of it today and just had to share :)
i hope it made you smile too.
and if you are looking at it and thinking "wow ... i would LOVE one of those"
a. don't tell me.
b. buy 3 so you can get a free "sun check wrist meter" as well.