time to find a new mark

last night during the superbowl, ben and alex were off on their own for a while.

later on in the night i found this in a drawer.

here's the conversation that followed:

me: ben, nice of you to write your name in here.

ben: (with a big smile on his face) it was alex.

me: (i decide to play along ... just to see where the story goes) RIIIIIGHT ;) he can't even write his own name, crazy. hey alex, ben said you wrote his name in this drawer.

alex: i did.

me: WOW ... someone taught you how to write 'b. e. n.'?

alex: yes. ben did.

*sigh*

alex, my sweet innocent 2 year old, (HA!) ... look out for ben. he's our resident trouble maker..
AND
ben ... buddy ... if you're going to try to be sneaky ...
you have to quit leaving your name as your mark ;)

picture this

my mom found this frame -
and asked me if we had a spot we would want to hang it in our house.

ben's response ...
he gave a VERY puzzled look ... then pointed at the pictures and said ...
"WHY??? we don't even know them!"

HA!

25 random things about me

although i have already posted these on facebook ...

i realize not everyone is on facebook :)

AND ....

those things i write on my blog will actually get saved -

SO ... here are my 25 random things about me!

1. I think it would be fun to live in the heart of NYC - for a short time :)

2. I love to travel - the craziest place i have gone is the Canary Islands

3. BUT ... i hate to fly if my kids aren't with me. if we all go together - that's fine :) is that twisted?!

4. I filled in as a bartender off and on at Chi-Chi's when I was in college. (most of the time I was just a server or a cocktail server)

5. Stacey and I have known each other - and been really close friends since 7th grade.

6. I love to take pictures and play around with photoshop - I just wish I was better at both :)

7. I would rather have a newborn that doesn't sleep for 9 months than be pregnant.

8. I spent 3 weeks in Bermuda the summer of my senior year.

9. I love to watch Rachel Ray cook and I love to look at cookbooks and recipes - BUT I rarely cook. I just like to bake. (I know ... poor stacey. save it.)

10. I LOVE to shop - and love to buy nice stuff - I just rarely pay full price:)

11. I was on a swim team for 7 years.

12. Even when I was 9 months pregnant I could still put my foot up to my head.

13. Touching - or even hearing - styrofoam gives me chills all over my body.

14. I watch a lot of TV - CSI (NY and Miami), american idol, how i met your mother, jon and kate plus 8, survivor, amazing race, greys anatomy, private practice, desperate housewives, and lipstick jungle to name a few :) thank God for TiVo I guess :)

15. Chicken is the only meat that I eat. And I am even really picky about that.

16. I used to hate running. Now I love the feeling I get after a nice run.

17. I LOVE good photography - especially of kids!

18. In college I drove from ohio to wisconsin almost every other weekend to see stacey - that lasted a year and then we both moved to MN.

19. I do part time data entry work from home - about 8-10 hours a week.

20. My oldest 2 kids are on the Go Fish DVD.

21. When we were in grade school - every time we would hear sirens - a few neighbor kids, and us, would get on our bikes and go try to find where the sirens were going :) (and because we lived near an old persons home/mental hospital ... there were MANY false alarms .. so it happened often!)

22. If it didn't cost so much I would get my hair cut every week. AND i would probably have them wash my hair several times a week. I LOVE sitting and relaxing while they do my hair.

23. I love the feeling of a clean - clutter free - house.

24. HOWEVER ... i don't make my kids make their beds - and i rarely make ours :)

25. i am pretty sure i am going to submit this - but not stop thinking about it for a while. AND i will probably think of things and then say to myself MAN .. i TOTALLY should have put that one on there instead :) OH WELL ... i guess that can be my #25 - I rarely have regrets about life. Everything happens for a reason - so learn from it and move on :)

a busy day

i had quite a tough time choosing ONE picture to represent today on my 365 blog -
so i will put the 2 i didn't use on here to complete the story of our day :)

our day started off having fun with friends that we don't get to see often enough!

we played at an indoor playpark and then ended up at red robin.
AND
i left my camera at home.
go figure.

so ... here's the best i could get ...
a phone camera shot of parker and drew ...



THEN ...
tonight ...
ben went over to play with brooks.
it sounds like they had a blast
all i know is they were kung fu fighting ...
ben came home with the ability to balance on his head ...
and he was definitely wiped out!
he crashed hard - and fast!
thanks, jen!

somewhere in the middle ...

i went for a run...

we finished off the chocolate chip cookies ...

we went to target - twice ...

we finished another kinex amusement ride ...

AND ... we found where our new post office is.

whew!

let's ride.

today was drew's first snowboard lesson.

aside from the fact that it was barely zero degrees ...
it went really well.

the entire lesson was one-on-one
so it was the perfect way for him to get started.

they practiced 'skating' ...
did a lot of work on 'getting up on your own' ...
and even rode the chair lift and came down the 'big hill' as a final hurrah!

by that point ... it had been 2 hours and he was ready to be done.
afterall, drew can only take so much of people telling him how to do things :)

a place of his own!

when we moved out of our house in july we took down alex's crib.

because we were moving into a 2 bedroom townhouse - and because it was for such a short time - we left the crib down.

we started alex out in the pack n play
and eventually switched him to a mattress on the floor.

THEN ... the time came to move into our new house and we decided to keep the crib down.

because of this - alex became our roamer.
he sleeps all over.
some nights he sleeps in drew's room.
some nights he sleeps on our floor.
(he is NEVER in the room we planned to be his.)
he spends most nights in ben's room.

we realized that ben is happier with him in there
(which i don't understand because alex NEVER stops talking!)
and alex doesn't ever want to be alone.
SO ... we decided to make it a permanent thing.

as of tonight alex has his own REAL bed.
he and ben are officially roommates.
he was very excited
he went and found every stuffed animal he could -
quickly told each that they were his best friend (not joking.)
and then threw them in to bed.



he was even so excited he was asking me to take pictures!

now if we could just get him to stay in there all night.

not holding my breath.

dashing through the snow ... backwards??

with the BEAUTIFUL weather that we had today, ben and alex spent a good chunk of time outside sledding in the backyard.

when i first sent them out i figured that ben would sled and alex would just hang out at the bottom.

WOW ... was i wrong!

a few minutes after sending them out,
i looked out the window to see ben and alex, sitting on the tube together, sledding!

i threw on my stuff and ran outside ...

over the next hour alex got braver ....
and braver ...
AND braver.

he started out riding with ben (who if you look has the funniest -and very scary - habit of sledding - TONGUE HANGING OUT!).
then he went alone on his butt.
then on his tummy.



and in the end what was his favorite way to go down the hill???

i give you my 2 year old ...
going head first ...
on his back.
completely backwards ...
down our sledding hill.



not at all what i expected.
BUT ...
very fun.

now, if this 'january thaw' would just stick around!

a little slip ... perhaps?

yesterday at school drew got to watch the inauguration.

so ... last night when stacey got home drew was excited and said

"daddy .... did you watch the exaggeration today?"

now ... i'm not taking sides here ... (wink wink)

but based on the publicity this has gotten as the biggest ceremony ever ...

i have to admit we did get a little chuckle

*just a side note. this blog is politics free. this is simply a funny story i want to remember.

any comments that attempt to take this into a political debate - i will delete :) *

seriously ... do it NOW

yesterday, one of the fitness instructors from the Y died as the result of a massive heart attack.

she was my age and had 2 kids.

she was an incredible, fun teacher who made an impact on a LOT of lives!!

their family has been on my heart - and mind - since i heard.

and what i keep going back to is this.

it doesn't matter what kind of shape i am in.

it doesn't matter how old i am.

i am not invincible.

in the blink of an eye - i can, and will, be taken from this world.

and am i ready for that?!

if i left this world today - which after what happened i am seeing REALLY could, and does, happen -

am i satisfied with what i have left people with.

do my kids know how much i love them?

what memories do they have of me that stand out most?

i'm REALLY hoping it's not me impatiently trying to get them out the door!

does stacey know that i love him with every ounce of my being?

or was i too busy picking up ... and getting the laundry caught up to REALLY show him -

and not just tell him.

have i given my all - and made a difference in friendships that will not be the same without me?

i hope so.

i realize these are all very deep thoughts.

and i would like to think that it will be a while before people are faced with life without me

BUT ...

nevertheless, they are the thoughts that are flooding my mind today.

as i laid alex down for his nap i sat and just watched him.

all i could think about was how important NOW really is.

AND

my mind kept going back to those 2 sweet little kids - now without a mommy

i realized that i need to use this as a STRONG (and very sad) reminder

just because i'm 'young'

just because i work out often

just because i MIGHT eat the right things (every now and then)

doesn't change the fact that my NOW could end tomorrow

my NOW could end tonight

tonight COULD be the last night i tuck my kids in to bed.

and i can't change that.

BUT ...

there are things i can change.

that's where my focus needs to be.

this is EXACTLY what i was talking about in my NOW post -

only it's a whole new level!!!

i need to live today

not only because my kids change too quickly

and because my memory will slowly dissipate.

i need to live NOW

because i may not have tomorrow.

and i urge you to do the same.

AND ...

i ask you to please pray for the fandre family.

i wrote this post becaue this is what is on my mind-

BUT this isn't about me.

carter is 8 and lily is 5

their world has just been turned upside down

in a way i can't even fathom.

although i barely know them

i know that surrounding them with prayer is one of the best things we can do!

if stacey got his wish ...

this is how i would play guitar hero!

and to see how he REALLY wishes i would play ...

you'll have to go search for 'heidi klum guitar hero' on youtube yourself ;)