magic

today i am thankful for the magic eraser ...
this morning we came downstairs to find this fun little 'guy' on our dishwasher ...



drawn with a sharpie marker ...
of course

by
none other than ...

our resident punk.

within the past week or so he has become obessed with drawing and writing.
AND
what's fun is that his drawings/writings have really started to resemble things
SO ...
although i won't tell him this ...
it actually did make me smile when i saw this ...


CUZ really ...
it's not everyday that you get to see your 3 year old
learning to draw a person with legs AND eyes!

next time, though, just keep it off the dishwasher.

punk.

LIFE lessons

tonight we played the game of LIFE.

just a few things i heard come out of drew's mouth

while sorting out the money in the beginning

* wow ... when i am older i am going to be such a good rich guy

because i am so good with money

after buying his 3rd stock

*it's ok. i have SO many 20's.

i might as well just spend them.

YIKES.

thinking it might be beneficial to have him play the game ...

and lose ...

JUST a few more times ;)

country mouse city mouse

on saturday we met up with stacey's brother and family

we met up at his mom's -
which is essentially in the middle of nowhere.

BUT ...
for 6 city kids ...
being in the middle of nowhere was a lot of fun!

they shot bb guns
pretty sure everyone hit the can on their first shot ...
well, except stacey ;)
they went for a tractor ride
they got to see a deer head in a tree
yes, lovely, i know
they saw a tree stand ...
AND
they got to climb all over rolls of hay



it doesn't make me want to move to the country ...
BUT ...
it is DEFINITELY a fun place to visit!

together again

being in wisconsin for thanksgiving
meant alex and aiden got to spend a lot of time together.

it's been a while since they last saw each other -
but they jumped in right where they left off
and had SO much fun ...
perhaps TOO much fun (just wait ... there's proof)

they ran ...
a lot!



they laughed ...
a lot!

they screamed ...
a lot!
definitely stacey's favorite part ... ;)

they showed off their MAD bowling skills at our
annual thanksgiving bowling extravaganza ...

and basically just went strong from morning until night.

------------------
THANKFULLY ...
it didn't take long the fun to just completely wear alex out

which is a REALLY good thing
when you look at pictures like this ...

thankful

today i am thankful.

i am thankful that i have so many things to be thankful for.

i have

~ the ability to trust and put my faith in God

~ 3 crazy boys who love me

and like to have fun

~ a husband who loves me,

is my best friend,

AND helps me parent those previously mentioned 3 crazy boys

(thankfully, he's a little crazy too)

~ a place to call home

~ a family that loves me

~ great restaurants to make dinner when we don't feel like it

which is probably more often than it should be ;)

~ friends that make me laugh and keep me grounded

~ a steady income

~ at least 5 months of "warm" weather

although 12 would still my ideal

~ great neighbors

~ the ability to have fun things

~ AND ... time.

i am thankful for the time i get to do the things i love

and more importantly,

for the time that i get to spend with the people i love.

it's WAY too easy to take that for granted

SO ...

i want to take today to say ...

i'm thankful for each and every one of you that are a part of my life

i am thankful for the time i get to spend with you

and for the difference that you have made in my life.

you give me a lot to be thankful for ...

and for that i am thankful.

x vs y

i can't even tell you the number of times i have answered this one question ...

'so are you gonna try for that girl?'

having 3 boys leads people to believe that after 1 boy we tried for a girl,

got a boy,

tried for a girl,

got ANOTHER boy,

and are still trying for that girl.

for the record ...

we're not.

you see,

every now and then we get a glimpse into what our life COULD be like

complete with:

drama

emotion

lack of rational thinking

and

tears

lots of them

for no reason at all

well ... ok there is a reason

but not one that counts as a reason

i give you tonight as an example

we decided to have chili's for dinner

now every time we go we get chips, salsa, and a cup of ranch

and every time we put it in the middle so that each of the boys can reach.

and every time they are COMPLETELY fine with it.

tonight, however,

IN THE MIDDLE of chili's

one of our logical, rational, 'always well behaved' boys

(feel free to stop laughing and then continue)

actually broke down crying

because the ranch was a little too far and he had to straighten his arm to reach it.

now ... it wasn't that he couldn't reach it ...

it was that he had to STRAIGHTEN his arm ALL the way.

i mean.

how horrible are we.

the things we expect.

(insert appropriate eye roll here)

seriously ...

i'm glad bedtime has come and gone

AND ...

when we wake up tomorrow

i'm hoping for some wrestling,

running,

and screaming.

enough with this girl stuff,

seriously.

could have

i could have written a few blog posts in the past few days.

alex says things that surprise me on a daily basis ...

drew has been SUCH a nice big brother ...

and ben ...
well ...
the story about him telling the neighbor that chewy got shot in the head ..
yah ... that would have been a good blog post ...

but you see ... i'm just too busy ...

busy taking pictures.

of really important things ...

like ...

you know ...

playing cards ...



and antibacterial foaming soap.

yah,
taking time to tell stories would just take way too long.

could it ... maybe ...

stay this way outside for ...
i dunno ...
maybe just like 5 more months.



is that asking too much??

and i was worried why??

although the school boards decision is 99% final -

we haven't REALLY told the boys about the changes for next year.

it came up in conversation the other day between ben and his friends at eagle's nest -

but when told he had to switch he said ... 'oh, ok.'

so ... at the time i figured he didn't really understand what was going on.

so, tonight we were sitting at dinner.

ben says 'wouldn't it be so cool if i had mr. rodman (drew's teacher from last year) next year!'

i looked at stacey and knew there was no better time.

i said ... 'well actually ... you can't.'

he said 'why?'

i said 'because you won't be at johnsville next year.'

ben said 'why?'

drew said 'where will we be?'

stacey said 'you have to guess.'

so they guessed the school closest to our house

(yes that's right there will now be TWO elementary schools in between where we live and where our kids go to school. i know. TOTALLY makes sense, right?!)

'NOPE. guess again'

they were stumped.

so we played the card we knew would hook them.

'which school has the playground that you think is SO cool?!'

AND they guessed it immediately.

ben said
'i knew it. SWEET!' (he was sold on the playground alone)

drew ... well ...

his FIRST response 'OH COOL did you know that they share an evacuation plan with {where he went to school his first 2 years}?

his SECOND response 'man i'm really going to miss johnsville's motto.'

unreal.

although i knew in my heart
they would be fine come next september -

my emotions have been all over the place for the past month.

i was worried that they were going to be sad about leaving friends again ...

i was unsure of how they were going to respond ...

i was mad at the whole situation in general ...

yet when it was all said and done,

the thing that concerned drew most was leaving the school's motto

;)

nice.

... to have faith like a child would be SO nice ...

busy fun

2 new toys in one week ...



how in the world am i supposed to get anything done ?!!!