polar bear, polar bear

what do you see??



i see 2 crazy boys looking at me.

sudsy smiles

why oh why is the bathtub the only place i can get a picture where all 3 boys look at the camera (at the same time) and smile :)

who needs a bed ??

if you're just thinking about buying your kids a nice bed ... you might want to think again.

a comfortable mattress .... don't need it.

nice coordinating sheets ... don't need them.

down comforter ... also not important.

a cars sleeping bag that lays perfectly in the middle of the bedroom floor ... now we're talking!

for the past month or so, this is where ben has spent about 90% of his nights.

top bunk - doesn't interest him.
bottom bunk - doesn't interest him.

every night when we're getting ready for bed, the first thing he says is "i want to sleep on the floor tonight!"

and come 8:30 ... having him sleeping is my main priority.

so ... sweet dreams little ben.

as long as the floor does it for you, it's doin' it for me!

we're wearing him out!

up until a few weeks ago, alex was a very picky sleeper.

he would only sleep in his crib or the car. that's it.

he's always been a snuggler, but, he would rarely fall asleep in your arms.

and he would NEVER, EVER, even consider just laying on the couch or the floor and crashing.

well, times have changed ...

apparently adding fun to his life has more benefits than i expected!!

good investments

you know you've made a good investment when ..
you buy something for your kids and it keeps them busy all day!
they use them to "explore" the house ....
and to play in the dark.
they wear them while they watch tv ...
and while they play wii.
they fall asleep wearing them ...
and then put them on first thing when they wake up!

the bottom line --

3 adventure head lights - $15

having all 3 kids kept busy for hours on end - absolutely priceless!!

when teddy grahams just don't cut it.

man, did i provide the entertainment for the people shopping at the gap outlet today!

not only did they get to "enjoy" watching as i pushed around an 18 month old who was at his shopping threshold. oh, it was SO much better than that!

i was also being followed by a 6 year old who would not stop talking about ancient greece :)

now, as excited as i am that drew LOVES the magic treehouse books ... and as excited as i am that book # 16 has added to such a fun obsession - when child A is crying and removing any article of clothing he can, while in the middle of the gap, it is not really a good combo to have child B quizzing you to see what you know about plato and olympic stadiums.

while standing there laughing at myself and the situation ... i came to a few quick conclusions.

1. thank God we stopped at starbucks.

2.. stacey was probably getting a lot more done than i was :) (he was shopping next door with ONLY ben.)

and

3. i had definitely lost control of the situation. it was time to step up and put an end to the craziness !!

thank you burger king for providing the #1 distraction of the afternoon! your FABULOUS flavorburst ice cream cones ROCK!

what brothers are for - part 2

to push you around in a toy bucket, of course!

who's bossin you around?

on wednesday nights i am a small group leader for our church's elementary midweek program. i have 7 first grade boys (drew included).

while in our group tonight we were talking about our memory verse. i asked them if they knew why it was good to learn memory verses and i got quite a variety of answers. this led to one of the kids saying "so that you can not be bad and so you can go to heaven." to which i responded "well, is that really what gets you into heaven?"

thus began our talk about what you have to do to get to heaven.

NOW .. what i love about it is that i sat there and was able to keep my mouth shut for a lot of the time. these little first graders were so passionate about what they knew. they took the time to talk and explain things to this little boy. they basically fought over who got to tell him. "you have to ask God to be the boss of your life." "you can do that." "you think with your head and believe with your heart. do you know that?" ... and on and on it went ...

it was so powerful. i sat and thought to myself - i want that passion. i want to be that excited to share what i know. i want faith like these kids have.

then i realized, maybe that's what it takes. to think like a first grader. to think about it the way they think about it. in their terms.

is God the boss of my life? i mean the REAL boss of my life? the day to day, minute to minute, second to second boss of my life?

it's definitely something to think about.

SWM 6 years old seeks wife

drew told us this morning he is concerned that everyone knows who they are going to marry and that he does not have a wife.

we told him to give it a few years :)

... i have a dream ...

drew informed us today that he is going to win an award like the one they gave martin luther king jr.

he already has it planned. he has a helicopter created in his mind that can save all of the polar bears that are dying because their habitat is getting destroyed.

he also informed us that all of the polar bears in the world would be much happier in our zoos.

he told ben what a continent was.

he informed the rest of us that the north pole is not really a continent because you can't walk on it.

AND he informed us that 'y' is a vowel, sometimes.

did i mentioned that this was all just on our drive TO the y?

well.....

i guess all there is to say is ...

go patriots!!

snazzy baby!

this weekend go fish had their twin cities concerts.

as usual, we took our spot behind the merchandise table as members of the "unofficial twincities go fish merchandise groupies".

despite the fact that for the past 30 hours we have not reached a temperature above zero ...a lot of people came out and each of the shows was full of energy and provided plenty of WARM entertainment :)

the weekend was successful for many reasons ...

now if the packers can just win!

my little hacker

stacey and i were gone tonight.

when i got back and came to check my email, i had a notice that someone had left a comment on one of my posts. funny ... I left a comment on one of MY posts.

immediately upon reading it i had a hunch who had REALLY left the comment.

his phonetic spelling led me right to him :)

i love you drew. and i'm glad you like reading my blog.

a little bit of love .... and logic

this week we started a parenting with love and logic class at our church.

we've only been once so far - but i love it.

i love the theory behind it. i love that it's a no-nonsense kind of parenting for our society today.

in case you aren't familiar with it - i'll give you a VERY brief overview of what love and logic parenting is. but .. i'm sure i won't even do it justice ... so, just read the book :)

*it's a way of using logical consequences to teach your kids to be responsible.
*it's allowing them to fail and make mistakes, knowing that the consequence is going to be on a much smaller scale now than it would be 10 years down the road.
*it's using lots of love and empathy - but it's not praising your kids for every single little thing they do, like society tells us we should:)
*it's establishing, through that love and empathy, that you are the one in control.

as we sat and listened and then discussed, stacey and i both had several "aha!" moments. we both walked away eager to try the things that were suggested and to see how they worked!

our house isn't out of control (in my opinion ... no comments from the peanut gallery), but it never hurts to get some fresh ideas and a little encouragement. right?!

look out ladies ..

not only does he know how to romance girls with his guitar. (while wearing next to nothing)

drew has informed us that he really likes "love movies".

so, naturally i asked ... "what is your favorite "love movie"?"

"transformers. yup. that's a really good love movie."

how sweet it is ..

today was a bit sad for me.
i lost one of alex's crocs.
now, losing anything frustrates me beyond words.
but ... to lose one of alex's crocs had me kind of sad too.
one of the 2 places that it could be is target. so, we drove to target to see if i could find it.

as we were driving away, unsuccessful, drew said, "mommy, you can have all of my money and buy alex some new crocs."
i instantly wanted to cry.
i told him that was really nice, but that he can save his money.
he said, "well i don't want you to be sad and i know that you would be happy if we got alex some new crocs."

it was at that moment that everything was put in perspective.
i told myself to get over it ... they are shoes ... i would tell the boys to shake it off ... so there's no reason for me to let it ruin my day.
AND ... i realized that things might get crazy ... ok they DO get crazy ... but that's when i need to look back at moments like this and remember that it's all worth it.

drew, you made my day today. you are so loving ... you are so kind ... and you set such a good example for your little crazy brothers.
you make my heart smile each and everyday just by being you.
i love you.

my secret -- exciting -- life

last night i was in charge of picking up my little brother at the airport.
his flight continually got delayed. what was supposed to be a 9 pm arrival time ended up being a 1215 am arrival.
now ... 1215 am is not all that late for stacey and i. we stay up late often and enjoy the peacefulness that a house of 3 sleeping boys has to offer.
HOWEVER ... last night i found that it is easier to enjoy a peaceful house than to drive at 1215 am.
as i pulled into the airport, i got pulled over.
i knew i wasn't speeding. i was purposely going the speed limit because i did not want to have to do loops through the arrivals/baggage claim area.
so at the time i had NO idea what i was getting pulled over for. it was probably the most calm i have ever, or will ever be, with a cop's lights flashing behind me.
anyway ... two cops approached my car. they shined their flashlights in my windows to make sure i wasn't hiding anything. of course all they found were crayons, empty fruit snack bags, and preschool art. PROBABLY not what they were looking for.
i put my window down and gave the cop my license and my insurance info.
he asked if i knew why i had been pulled over.
i was honest, and told him that i had no idea.
he said that i had apparently crossed the fog line 5 times while he was watching me.
ok, that's very possible. afterall ... it was 1215 am ... the roads were empty. i was very aware of cars near me and i wasn't planning on driving off the edge of the shoulder. but i probably was drifting a little bit.
so i apologized - what else do you say to that?
so he says ... "mam ... how much have you had to drink tonight?!"
HA!
ok .. now several responses went through my head.
BUT ... thankfully none of them came out my mouth.
instead, i giggled a bit and then very politely explained that my brother's plane was 3 hours late AND that i have an 18 month old at home who thinks that 6 am is an acceptable time to wake up.
so, although a drink was sounding nice at that moment, no, i had not had any alcohol, and i was actually just tired.
he took my license, and returned a few minutes later to tell me that he was just going to give me a verbal warning. he told me that he's sure i was just tired and to try my best to be alert.
he then made sure that i knew where i was going and sent me on my way.
as alex, my brother, and his friend were getting into my car, the cop drove slowly by me.
i thought ... great ... here i have 2 big guys, who haven't shaved in 2 weeks, and are wearing packer jerseys, getting into my car ... and they probably have been drinking :)!
thankfully ... he left me alone.

i fell asleep laughing about this last night and am still laughing about it now.
if he only knew how non-eventful my night really was.
and that of all people ... me ... a drunk driver ...

HA!

OH ... and .. for the record ... stacey says they just pulled me over because they wanted to check out our car.

the sugar bugs try to attack!

we ate dinner late tonight and ben was REALLY tired the entire time we ate.
as soon as he finished we told him he could go brush his teeth. he was so tired, he looked at us like that was an overwhelming task that he was just not wanting to attempt.
he followed the look up with ....

"well actually, i really like patterns. ya know, like ... one night brush, one night not ... :)"

clever? yes.
do i like patterns too? yes.
but, do i find this particular pattern absolutely disgusting? most definitely.

so did he brush his teeth? you bet.

what do 4 yr olds do for fun?

funny you should ask.

at our house today, while i was upstairs with alex, ben decided that a fun activity would be to slide around the kitchen on banana peels.

makes perfect sense, right?!

i'm hoping that his definition of fun changes when he hits 5.

the latest excuse

drew sometimes has a hard time falling asleep.

why? you might ask.

well ... tonight it was because his eyes ran out of blood. there is none left in them. they are dried up. so he cannot shut them.

yes, it seems to be quite serious.

but instead of praying for him, and his eyes ... pray for me :)

can you do it??

we were reading a magazine and came across a mind trick/game.
we all tried it - stacey and i tried it over and over and over
and continue to fail :)
so ... give it a try ...

with your foot make circles that go to the right - or clockwise.

ok now draw a 6 with your finger - from the top down

can you keep your foot going the right direction??

high-class dining

you might remember back to my goal for each of my kids to have their own special day of the month ...
well, we've been doing that. and that means that today was ben's day!
so the rules were that he could choose anywhere to go ... ANYWHERE (movie, restaurant, etc) ... and who to go with.
so guess where he chose ...

he chose for he and i to go eat lunch at target. YUP .. target.

and what did he order? a hot dog and an icee.

we obviously need to get out more - to places OTHER than supertarget.

and apparently i also need to teach my kids that when someone offers to take you out on the town, it's quite ok to not choose the $2 hot dog meal at supertarget :)

all i have to say today is...

thank God that the days are getting longer.

MY naked cowboy

back in the fall when we went to NYC i got my picture taken with the naked cowboy in times square - just for fun.

WELL ... little did i know that just a few months later i would have my very own naked cowboy.

he decorated his own guitar.
he performs for us daily.
and most importantly ... he does it all in his whitey tightys :)

now if we can just keep the girls away ;)

havin some fun!

well.. it's only the 4th day of 2008 and so far i'm doing quite well at making sure that alex has a little bit of fun in 2008 ;) for the past 2 days his naps have been nearly nonexistant ... but he's done REALLY well! we made a last minute trip to the museum yesterday ... and then met up with some friends for some indoor play fun today :) he had so much fun that his lack of naptime sleep didn't slow him down a bit. he followed ben up into the climbing tunnels and came right down the big slides all by himself!

he is catching on to this having fun stuff pretty quickly.

i, on the other hand, don't want him to catch on TOO MUCH to the fun that can be had when one does not nap ... so i think we'll take a few days off:)

i scream ... you scream ...

i'm finally now getting around to the ice cream instructions :)

keep in mind .. this will make a mess. i guarantee it.

think of what salt looks like when it dries on your car. that is what your table .. and the front of your shirt will most likely look like :) ha ha :)

in a quart size freezer bag (i actually recommend double bagging it - so 2 qt size bags) mix:
1 cup milk (thick milk .. not skim)
1 T sugar
1/2 teaspon vanilla

seal the bag.

fill a gallon size freezer bag (also double this bag AT LEAST .. i might even triple. ALSO .. i HIGHLY recommend not using generic bags ... they will take a beating and WILL leak ... so the stronger you can find the better) half full of ice and 6 tablespoons of salt (ice cream or kosher salt).

Put small sealed bag in larger bag and seal large bag.

shake the bag for about 5 minutes or until the inside bag is a thick consistency.

***(you may need to add more ice if you find it has all melted and it is still not the consistency that you want).

ENJOY YOUR ICE CREAM!!

your other option. go to REI and buy an ice cream ball :) ha ha :) it's a lot less messy :) ha ha :)

what brothers are for

 

things that got me through 2007

danyelle posted about her favorite things from 2007 and challenged me to do the same ...
so ...although i did a post a while back about my favorite things ...
i figured i'd do a list of the things that got me through 2007 ...
aside from my obvious loves ... God, my family, starbucks, etc :)
here are a few that i came up with ... (and, i reserve the right to add more later, because, i'm positive i've forgotten some!)

*my overland donner diaper bag/purse (i knew you'd love it danyelle)

*latin hip hop at the Y

*gap long n lean jeans

*my teva olawahus (i know i've mentioned these before .. but they deserve the repeat)

*arby's roast TRB sandwich (minus the B of course)

*heated seats in our car

*alex's noise machine (i realize that's his .. but when he sleeps .. i'm happy)

*my lands end vests .. actually lands end overall makes the list

*our trampoline (not only for me - but the entainment it provides my kids)

*CSI:NY

*the outdoor kids pool at the Y

*the free kids cookies at the target bakery

*bakers square - fajita pitas (to go after the kids are in bed)

*high school musical 1&2 (also provided endless hours of entertainment at our house)

and of course ...

*blogging :)

NOW ... create a list of your own ... it'll be fun to look back next year and see how it's changed!