time for a girls night?

last night MONSTER JAM came to the metrodome.

when i saw it advertised i knew that it would be the PERFECT event for our boys.
AND
i knew that my nephew, aiden, would love it too.
so he and my mom drove over ...

and we hopped a train ...



down to the testosterone fest ...

notice MAXIMUM DESTRUCTION in the bottom left corner.
that really is the truck's name, by the way ;)
by the end of the freestyle round he had flipped and crashed enough times
that the body of his truck was completely non-existant.
those guys are RUTHLESS!
WHICH ... is perfect for 4 little boys.

well ... 3 little boys ;)
as you can see, the 4th little boy slept through a lot of it.
that's an expensive nap, little aiden.

the destruction went on for almost 3 hours!
it was crazy!
it was loud.
and ...
parts of it were REALLY fun -

namely, my favorite part of the night.
the trailer races.

i've been to a demo derby before -
but never before have i experienced them pulling trailers!
they were carrying the strangest things - washing machines, a jet ski, a tasmanian devil, a couch ...
one was even pulling a pop up camper!
yet it didn't stop them.
they drove around the track.
they flipped their trailers over.
they crashed into each other.
they basically drove up right onto each other.



talk about testosterone!

yet ...
here i sit telling you that i enjoyed it.
hmmm ...
perhaps living with all these boys is starting to take it's toll.

1 fish 2 fish

a few weeks ago swim lessons started back up.

this meant that alex got to start swim lessons
for the first time!

i know ... i know ...
it's about time, right?!
i'm already anticipating the therapist meetings concerning all the ways he gets shafted as the 3rd kid.

the first week he needed a bit of coaxing.
thankfully, drew and ben's lessons follow alex's -
so ben hopped in and helped him.

the second week i got a little smarter:)
and he did MUCH better!

so tonight, the third week ...
we made the same deal
and
here is alex
immediately after another really good lesson :)



i'm never above bribery, people!
i do what works!
later in life when he depends on food and soda to get him through -
well he'll already be seeing a therapist for the 3rd child syndrome -
so, no worries ;)

NOW ...
we have bigger news from
our SECOND little fish.

BEN PASSED THE SWIM TEST TONIGHT!!!!



although i am pretty sure he's had the ability for a while,
he is the type of kid who doesn't like to fail -
so he never wanted to try.

WELL ... tonight he got up the courage
SO ...
from now on he can go in the deep pool WITHOUT parents
and
he.
is.
PUMPED!

WAY TO GO, BEN!!!
you rock!

a little afternoon flyin'

although to some people 36 degrees is VERY cold ...

we are at the point in our winter where a 36 degree day is SO appreciated!

and when it happens to fall on a day when the boys AND stacey have the day off ...
it's ...
dare i say ...
downright blissful!!

we decided to take advantage of it and head to the elm creek tubing hill -



as you can see -
it's set up with REALLY nice tubing chutes.
they have really nice tubes to use
AND
although it's well supervised -
they are pretty relaxed when it comes to rules -
so the options are endless -
you can sit down
go on your stomach
run and dive
you can even hook all of your tubes together and go as a big chunk of tubes down the hill -

with so many options ...
AND a magic carpet to carry you, your tube, AND your 3 year old ;) - back up the hill ...
it's EASY to spend a good chunk of time there.

so we did.



we went together, we went alone, we went on our stomachs
(yes, that's alex going down ON HIS STOMACH!! GO ALEX!!!)

to have alex at an age where we can finally go as a group
and all do one thing -
and enjoy it -
is REALLY fun.

i look forward to the next 'warm' day
when we can go again!

just hoping that happens sometime before ... i dunno .... june ;)

you're cheering for who?!

this football season has been an interesting one at our house.

you see ...
stacey and i have always cheered for the packers
well REALLY i don't care who wins -
i like watching it -
but as far as teams go -
i honestly don't care -
well ... other than the fact that i kind of wish we'd cheer for a team with some better colors!
purple and gold OR green and gold ?!
they're both ugly!

ANYWAY ...
growing up in MN the boys have liked the vikings -
but have totally been packer fans too.
WELL this year that changed a bit ...
favre came and joined the vikings -
the vikings got good -
and i was left with a bunch of vikings fans on my hands.

SO fast forward to today -

the packers are out of it -
and the vikings still in the playoffs
SO i took my bunch of band wagon groupies and
we headed over to our neighbors for a little sunday afternoon football fun

they kept busy -
we all had fun
AND
they were pumped!!

it was a nice win!!



SO ...
i've decided i'll go ahead and say
GOOD LUCK NEXT WEEK, VIKINGS!
it will be fun if you make it to the superbowl!

BUT ...
i am also going to offer a note to my vik-ker fans
next year -
if favre is gone -
and the vikings suck -
and you all of the sudden decide you aren't vikings fans anymore -
could you at least move on to a team with some decent colors in their jerseys?

**as an added side note**
i just went and tucked drew into bed -
he told me that he likes the vikings tatoo on his face
but he hopes that it's gone by the weekend
because he doesn't want 'grandma and aiden' to know that he
REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY likes the vikings as much as he does :)

Q&A randomness

each year i ask the boys a series of questions at the beginning of the year -
it's fun to see how they've changed from the previous year -
and it's fun to see what random answers they come up with.

i thought it'd be fun to just highlight a few of my favorites:

DREW:
what time does your mom wake up?
9:00
(oh how i WISH!)

what do you like about your mom?
she is cool
(wonder how long he'll keep thinking that?!)

how tall is your dad?
super tall
(HA!)

favorite restaurant?
granite city
(the kid has great taste! what can i say?!)

BEN:
what do you like best about your mom?
her car
(HA!)

favorite thing about yourself?
i look good
(ha ha. he's not shy)

what i want to be when i grow up?
a DJ
(hasn't changed in about 3 years)

favorite place to shop?
JC Penney
(ok i can honestly tell you i can't even tell you the last time he was in a JC Penney
or that i bought something from JC Penney.
SO random!)

ALEX:
what is your dad's favorite sport to play?
going to work
(poor stacey)

where does your dad work?
at his work
(DUH!)

your favorite store?
target
(for the record - all 3 boys said this)

if you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you choose?
target
(poor kid. guess that's what happens when starbucks is in target)

2 for 1

so first i took this picture of alex -

who knew that playing with play-doh was SO tough ...



i thought to myself - i'll use that tonight on my blog ...

WELL THEN ...

he woke up.

crabby.

apparently sleeping at the kitchen table doesn't lead to long, well-rested sleep

and refused to eat his hot dog without gloves on ...

giving me the 2nd half to this post ...

nice.

we keep our house at 71 degrees.

it's not THAT cold.

but HE thought it was ....

SO ...
just for tonight ...
if it makes the 3 year old happy long enough to get some food in him -
then gloves it is.

when no one is looking ...

sometimes you just REALLY want something ...



and finding something to accompany it ...



or getting a spoon ...



is just WAY too much work.

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

** DISCLAIMER **
please don't be afraid to eat peanut butter from my house after this post -
be assured that alex now has his very own jar of peanut butter on our pantry shelf ;)
and i have told him that it is quite alright if he never shares:)

some things ...

walking upstairs to find that one brother has crawled in bed with the other ...



just never gets old :)

and yes alex is sleeping in his clothes -
there are some battles that just aren't worth fighting :)

a future in vegas perhaps??

this afternoon ben and i decided to play a game of go fish -

here are our starting hands -



you have one guess at who was the dealer ...

hello, goodbye

wow ...
2010!!!

seriously?!

we decided to celebrate our past year
and say goodbye to 2009 by having a nice dinner at home -

we set the table up 'fancy'
which we NEVER do

we had 'wine'
no worries - it wasn't real

and we sat around a candlelit table and talked
we also spent way too much time convincing alex that he didn't get his dessert until he ate at least a few bites-
but i won't go there ;)



the boys told us that the highlights of their 2009 were:

drew - getting to spend a lot of fun time with his family
ben - getting to play with his best brothers
and
alex - getting to decorate signs that said 'happy new year'

the boys LOVED it!
who would've guessed that all it took was a few wine glasses and some cloth napkins ;)

once dinner was over-
and cleaned up
we were ready to bring in 2010!

AND ...
what better way to do it than with some friends/neighbors!!

the mullens came over.
and together ...
we rocked our way into 2010.
literally.
we had to actually pause the ball drop until the song was over so that we didn't miss it

now as i sit here today ...
i am just thinking a little.
i saw so many people on facebook who were so glad to see 2009 go -
and ready for 2010 to start.
and it just made me think -

although it's fun to look at those things around the corner -
i'm not ready to say i'm excited to see 2009 go -
time is already going too fast!!
i almost have a NINE YEAR OLD!!!

lots of things happened this year ...
and i don't want to forget, even for a second, those things which made 2009 special.



we gained a new - very fluffy - member of our family
still not sure how smart of an idea that was ;)

and we lost lots of teeth.

we said hello to another brand new mazda

and said goodbye to the metrodome.

drew got to go away to camp for the first time

and we got to go on a fun summer vacation

we got to celebrate a grandma -
and how special she is -

but then just a few months later we were left saying goodbye :(

and THEN ... just a few months after that ...
we said goodbye again ...
to stacey's grandpa :(

it was a year full of ups and downs -
but each one of those things made us stronger
and brought us closer together

and most importantly ... we had a TON of fun

are we ready for everything that 2010 has to offer -
ABSOLUTELY!
but not without first looking back and remembering those things which got us here in the first place.

thanks for all of the memories, 2009!
and here's to an INCREDIBLE 2010!