teddy bear teddy bear

early in the summer i heard about the teddy bear park ...

BUT ...

we never made the time to go there ...

UNTIL today!

and all i can say is ...



i can't believe we didn't go sooner!!



what a ...

SUPER CUTE ...

SUPER CLEAN ...

SUPER FUN park!!

a park that ...

for the record ...

is not ONLY a bunch of teddy bears ...

but has turf, sand, a train, slides, sun, shade, tunnels ...

AND a whole lot of teddy bears ;)

blessings from drew

just when i start to think that i haven't had enough 'funny drew stories' lately ..
out of nowhere i am completely blessed ...

------------------------------

i was going through drew's take home folder this morning
and i came across this post it note ...



i was curious who's number he had written down -
so i asked him.

'well ... i borrowed one of my teacher's books on the vikings.
i found their phone number and i wanted to write it down
so that i could call and see if brett favre had a little time
that he could just stop up here and say hey,
because i wouldn't mind meeting him'

--------------------------------------
THEN ...

drew and i were riding in the car and out of nowhere he said ...

'mom i have decided that i am going to be a celebrity.
i'm thinking that's going to be my best shot at getting all the girls to want me'

----------------------------------------------

AND ...

yesterday, drew and i were talking about where we live and where he'd like to live if he could ...

he told me that he thinks wisconsin is where he'd like to live
because wisconsin definitely feels like his REAL home ...
like ...
he lives here and stuff ...
but when he's in wisconsin is when he feels like he is REALLY home ...
and it is NOT because of the smell of manure ...
it's just cuz wisconsin ...
well it's his real home.

(now ... i have NO idea where this came from. drew has never lived in wisconsin.
we just visit there A LOT -
especially lately since stacey has become SLIGHTY obsessed with golfing with my family)

all i can say is ...
apparently all you relatives are doing a good job at making him think he should live there...
AND ...
it's a good thing its up to me, not him ;)

--------------------------------------------

i love you so much, drew.
you think so much deeper than i EVER have ...
you put no limitations on your ideas and i LOVE that
(well, usually. ha ha)
thank you for making me smile ;)

happy 29th, again ;)

more important than football kick off ...

yesterday was stacey's birthday!

we tried to make it special for him from start to finish ...

the boys wanted to start his day off by surprising him with some signs when he woke up ...

FIRST ... drew started him off with a sign right on our doorway ...

JUST in case he had forgotten ;)

then ... they worked on putting up signs all over the rest of the house

(here are a few of them)

THEN ...

to finish the day we took him to don pablo's ...

you will notice that we weren't quite prepared for the 80 degrees and sun that came with watching 2 football games back to back ;) stacey got some nice tan lines ;)

i hope that you had a nice birthday, stacey.

another year of craziness ...

another year of nonstop noise ...

and another year of loving you and being so thankful that you are in my life.

LOVE YOU ...

and happy 29th birthday, again ;)

kick off

although we've been practicing for weeks ...

today was the official kick off to football
for the barnett boys with back to back games.

both of their teams lost today ...

but that didn't change the fact that it was REALLY fun to watch!

crazy how football gear can make them all look so old, huh ;)

LOST

this little boy ...



has had a very long week ...

although i have been having a lot of fun with him ...
and i have loved spending one on one time with him that i don't normally get ...

i can tell that he hasn't quite adjusted to this new 'school routine'.

he really misses drew and ben.
by about 10 a.m. every morning he starts asking if it's time to go get 'the boys' yet.

we started out the week playing a lot of games to kill time ...

but then i won hullabaloo ...

ONCE ...

and now he won't play with me anymore ...

he'll only play alone ;)
and then at the last minute jump on whichever piece is the winning one

go figure.

i'm thinking that this little boy ...

may have needed preschool a little more than i thought ;)

bits of wisdom from drew

tonight in the car we were talking about going to a funeral

because stacey's grandpa died tonight :(

ben's first response was ..

'awww ... i hate funerals. it's just crying people everywhere.'

drew's immediate rebuttal?

' i love funerals. you get free lunch.'

------------------------------

THEN ...

tonight ...

we stopped at chipotle to pick up dinner ...

(mmmmmm) ...

as i was eating i said 'i love chipotle'

drew said 'so do i. chipotle holds our family together.'

-----------------------------------

smart kid ;)

first day!

today was the official beginning to the 2009-2010 school year for drew and ben



they were dressed and ready to go at 6:40 AM ...

and outside waiting for the bus by 8:30 ...
(even though it isn't supposed to come until 8:50)

they were just a LITTLE excited to start the new year!





the only downside ...
that alex couldn't go with them ;)
not that i'm ready to give him up, yet ...
well ... ok sometimes i am :) but that's another post.
by 10 am he was already asking for them,
and telling me how much he missed them.



poor guy ...
i have a feeling it is going to be a really long week while he gets used to life without them

i'm thinking lots of starbucks -
for both of us ;)

a fun surprise

this weekend we got a fun surprise from some friends from back in WI!

it was so nice to catch up ...

to have an older boy, who the boys LOVED spending time with, keeping our boys occupied ...

to get a glimpse into what life with a teenage girl is like ...
(we love you steph ...
and i still stand by my statement that you ROCK at drumming ...
we should start a band ;)
if only your mom would do vocals)

AND ...

to eat lots of good food
(i'm pretty sure we spent over 1/2 the time that they were here eating -
BUT ... as long as we all enjoyed it ...
right?!?!?!)

thanks for coming over to see us guys!!
we miss you!!

the great get-together

last night we went to the state fair

it was a GORGEOUS day/night to be out
( i was kind of wishing i would have gone earlier in the day so i could have taken in more -
BUT ... in the end, being there for 6 hours reminded me that my kids don't enjoy walking QUITE as much as i do -
and it's a good thing i didn't)



we knew there were quite a few things that we wanted to do -
things that we do each year that the boys look forward to -

* help on 'the farm'

* ride a few rides

* get chocolate chip cookies and then head to the unlimited milk booth

* visit the baby animals barn

* eat ourselves sick on hot fries

* ride the giant slide

* eat fresh roasted corn on the cob

*ride the skyway at night

BUT ...
this year as we walked around we decided to just have a little fun and randomly add things to the list -

* we tried deep friend peanut butter cups

*we rode the trolley

* the boys tried chocolate covered bacon
(sounds NASTY to me - but they liked it - so whatever)

* we went on the BIG midway bumper boats
(SO SO SO fun ... we rode them twice
and they are definitely going to be something we do again!
if you plan to go to the fair -
skip the lame kiddie bumper boats and TOTALLY take them on the big ones!
you'll get wet - but suck it up ;) ha ha)



what i am pretty sure the boys would say was their favorite part of the fair,
however,
was the x-games area.

we watched last year -
but that didn't change their reaction this year.
all 3 sat with their jaws dropped -
in complete awe -
as these skateboarders and BMXers did AMAZING tricks.



NOW ...
i get it.
it is truly amazing to watch.
they are SO talented ...
and SO SO SO brave.

however,
for the record ...
if my boys never decide to take up skateboarding or bmxing ...
i am completely fine with that ;)
those guys are CRAZY!!!

but ...
then again ...
so are we.

i did, afterall, post on facebook that my highlight of the fair was watching all of the fun people that come out at night -
and mention that i found it hilarious watching one girl knock another girls wig off her head while they fought ;)

boredom

sometimes ...

waiting at football practice gets a little looooonnnnng ...

and you just have to create a little crazy fun with what you've got ...