Happy Birthday, Boys!!!!

On September 19th my boys turned 8 years old and 5 years old... and how old does that make me???  I guess old enough to have an 8 year old and a 5 year old!  ...enough said...  My boys are growing up way to fast!  I remember rocking Nicholas in the rocking chair upstairs in his room at our home in Washington, Iowa... I would rock him and think, "I can't even imagine my baby being so big that his feet would touch the arms of the chair!"  But sure enough, he grew and his feet touched the arms of the chair!  Then I remember staying home with him as a toddler and thinking, "I can't even imagine my baby being old enough to go to Kindergarten!"  But sure enough, he went!  And now he's in 2nd grade!!!  And then there's Tyler... my sweet baby Tyler!  Although he's still in preschool, it seems like all the baby is gone and all that's left is big boy... The other day he told his brother that he knew how to spell "Nicholas".  Of course, Nicholas challenged him by saying, "No you can't!"  And then Tyler blew us all away by spouting out, "N-I-C-H-O-L-A-S... see?  I told you!"  My own jaw dropped!  Tyler will always be my baby, though... a mama's boy through and through!  Such a sweet pumpkin! 
My boys are so different from each other... like oil and water most days!  But when they don't know that mom's watching, they're nice to each other!  They really do love each other!  And their differences will be such an asset to each other some day! 

This was on the boys' birthday!

Nick's first day of school... and yes, we go by "Nick" now!

Tyler's first day of school... and yes, he LOVES to pretend to read chapter books like his big bro!

So... today we had Nick's birthday party with his friends!  It's always an experience when you have 10 boys and 2 girls with only 2 adults to keep the peace!  With that being said, these kids are really awesome!  I'm so blessed that Nick has such an amazing group of friends!  Of course they were all loud and wild, but what 2nd grader isn't?!?  I think they all had a really fun time celebrating Nick's birthday, and that's what matters most!  I always love to sit back and watch Nick with his friends... I made an interesting discovery today... there are a whole lot of leaders and not too many followers in this group of friends!  These kiddos are going somewhere!  They're going to make something of themselves... become successful adults someday!  So, for now, even though it's somewhat difficult for them to strike up a football game or soccer game because they're all the "First Captains", I'm not worried about them!  They're going places!  Thanks to all our friends for coming to the party!  And thanks to all their parents who are obviously doing something right!

This is our crew, minus Devyn, who was hanging like a monkey on the playground equipment and said he was too tired to get down!  LOL!  If I was hanging like a monkey... wait I'm too tired to hang like a monkey!  LOL!

Lessons learned can only make you stronger...

Life is so short... Never take anything for granted... Hold the ones you love close and don't let them go... Fight for what's right and true in your heart... Trust... Have something to believe in... Learn from mistakes, big or small... I'm turning 31 this week and I have just begun to truly learn these lessons.  Of course, my parents are awesome people and taught me all these important things as I grew older under their care.  But now I'm discovering that these lessons are ones that need to be relearned as I dive into my 30's.  It seemed to be so tramatic going through life as a teenager, wanting to be older than I was and thinking I knew just as much as my parents, if not more!  I knew nothing of what was to come in life!  Life is really hard sometimes, and I don't think I'm alone in saying that... I'm so blessed in so many ways!  And yet I can still find reasons to believe life is hard!  To my friends of a younger age, go through life as slow as you can and keep your eyes open for any opportunity to learn lessons! 

I have the boys back home tonight after Nicholas being gone for 10 days at the cabin with Papa and Grandma and Tyler spending the weekend at his dad's, and it almost feels right... missing some very important people under this roof tonight... I'm going to bed tonight praying for patience, peace, and resolution to some really big life lessons...

A Date with Tyler!

I had the day off today!!!!  Yaaaaahhhhhh!  My reward for working on Mother's Day!  I dropped off the boys at school and proceeded to spend hundreds of dollars on "necessities" from Target and Fareway... ok, my purchases at Fareway were all necessary... Target on the other hand had a few not-so-necessary necessities!  I mean, come on... EVERYONE needs black and white stick-on circles of various sizes that you can write on with chalk OR dry erase (I know, right?!?) to put on the wall of your choice!  It WAS necessary TODAY!  (I'm always trying to find new and exciting ways to keep myself and the rest of this family organized... to no avail thus far!  Maybe my chalk circles will be the answer to all my organizational prayers!)

So, I picked Tyler up from preschool with the car loaded with groceries that needed to be rushed to the cool relief of the refridgerator.  Tyler and I made a plan... we would get home and unload the groceries... and the trunk that was full of Target goodies (yes, the groceries had to go in the back seat, which Tyler enjoyed browsing through on the way home!)... and have a picnic outside for lunch!  Tyler wanted to have it in the backyard, but there's snakes back there, and I watched something really scarey about snakes last night on TV (thanks, Matt!)... so no picnics in the backyard for this mama!  Tyler's response, priceless, of course, "But it's poopy in the front!"  (thanks, Bella!)  He took the blanket outside all by himself and placed it in the non-poopy part of the front yard.  Then he took his Woody doll and his "sweet blankie" out to enjoy the fresh humid air as well!  (Funny side story real quick... Tyler told me that Grandma Sue took them to Walmart.  He said so innocently, "Nicholas got a remote control car and I got a Woody!"  So funny!!!!!) 

We made our lunches... I had a salad and Tyler a lunchable... and carried them outside ever so carefully.  I opened Tyler's lunchable and he said from the bottom of his heart, "I LOVE turkey, Mommy!  Thank you!"  So sweet!  We started eating, and then all on his own, Tyler picked me some "flowers" and presented them to me with such pride!  After he gave them to me I smelled them and said how good they smelled... Tyler, again with his sweet little voice said, "Do they smell like buttercups, Mommy?"  Oh yes, Tyler!  Such a sweet boy!

 As if I hadn't had my fill of cute Tyler sayings, along came another one!  We came inside so I could go potty yet again, and I took the closest bathroom because, as always, I REALLY had to go!  Tyler came into the bathroom and said, "Mommy, you used the wrong bathroom!"  I thought maybe it was because I used their bathoom instead of the master bathroom, which is MY bathroom (and Matt's, too, of course!).  But I was caught completely off guard when Tyler said, "This is the MEN'S bathroom (he points to the main bathroom)... you need to use the WOMEN'S bathroom (he points to the master bathroom)!"  He he he!  Oh Tyler, I love our time together... so much!

Now it's naptime, and I've been convinced by the ever so convincing Tyler to watch Everyone's Hero and nap on the couch... peace!  "I love you to the moon... and the stars... and the cabin!"  Tyler says this to me!  He must think the cabin is REALLY far away!!!!  LOL!

Finally...

My "Little Men"

I title this blog post "Finally..." because I finally have time to sit down and blog!!!  And I finally won that stupid Craig's List game!!!  Yes, we bought a couch... $45 dollars... and the sellers delivered it and helped carry it downstairs to the playroom!  What more could I ask for???  It's plaid... the boys think it's comfy, and that's all that matters... now they spend more time downstairs in their "lair" and want to know when we can get an Xbox for said lair!!!  So....... now I'm back in the game... looking for an entertainment center for the lair so we can put their Wii and movies down there too!  Thank God for that innate need that all boys have to have their own "Man Cave"!!!  Everyone needs a project, right?  My project is to create a man cave for my little men... LITTLE MEN... Oh my goodness... my babies aren't babies anymore!  And everyday I realize that they're growing up WAY too fast... what happened to all the baby talk that I was so good at doing???  How am I supposed to talk to LITTLE MEN?  Tonight we had the Spring Concert for school (which, of course I forgot my camera for!) and on the way home the boys were begging to stay up late... Late?  It was already 8:20 pm!  Bedtime is at 8:00 pm, and it was already past bedtime!!!  In the midst of the whining, Tyler said, "How could you do this to us, Mommy?"  Really Tyler????  How could you do this to US?  How can we have our nightly party if you don't go to bed on time?  Because we party HARD when you guys go to bed... right???  Not really at all!  The only partying I do after you go to bed is between me and the couch, and eventually the sand man joins me (usually sooner than later!)  So...... the boys went straight to bed when we got home.... and no, we didn't do the talent show that Nicholas suggested we have in the living room before heading off to bed... who has the energy for an impromptu talent show????  Maybe I'll be blogging about talent shows another day!  I'll be signing off now... my couch party awaits!!!

Craig's List... This is serious business!

I have been searching day in and day out for a couch for the boys' playroom to no avail... Everytime I find something that looks worth checking out and email the owner I get the same response... "You're too late!"  Too late???  You just posted it this morning!  How on earth could I be too late???  You're not giving away gold for free, are you???  You're trying to sell your somewhat crappy, definitely NOT new, couch for way too much if you ask me!!!  And I'm too late...  So I'm finding myself falling into the Craig's List trap and getting WAY too obsessed with finding that super fantastic deal BEFORE all the other losers like myself that are playing the same silly game... AND I WILL WIN!!!  I remember when Nicholas was 2 years old, and I was not even pregnant with Tyler yet... a similar situation happened...  I had become obsessed with winning bids on EBay...  I won, and consequently bought, 2 double strollers (and yes, I only had one child!  Shut up!), 2 car seat covers (and again, yes, I did not have an infant that would be riding in a car seat and thus using said car seat covers!  Again, SHUT UP!!!), and maybe some other items that I obviously blocked from my memory for good reason... OBVIOUSLY!  So... I'll say it again... I WILL WIN on Craig's List!  I just hope I don't end up with 2 couches!?!  He he!!!!

And this expression on Nicholas' face perfectly captures my feelings about all of those Craig's List sellers that have said I'm too late!

Happy Saturday!

It's really hard to capture a good picture during a live soccer gaime, but Nicholas is the one in the orange shorts getting ready to kick the ball!

Weekends were made for relaxing, right?  Soccer at 9am... trip to the park... a little b-ball with the boys... lunch... CRAP!!!  I still have laundry, dishes, filthy bathrooms that desperately need cleaned, and I could really use a good work out!  Thank God for naptime!  Nicholas DID NOT want to take a nap, but he had an attitude of a hungry lion and mother knows best!  He was asleep before Tyler was!  And now I have a quiet house... and all that work is haunting me... BUT 16 and Pregnant is on, so.... priorities!  I guess the bathrooms can wait!  He he!

Can't Believe I'm Blogging!

After reading my sister's amazing blog about my absolutely perfect nephew, I decided that maybe I should start blogging... I don't know, it looks fun, I guess...
So today I picked the boys up after work, and the usual begging and whining started in... today they wanted to eat supper at El Azteca.  They were begging for this a couple of days ago, and I DID NOT give in!  We had pasta that night... which Nicholas moaned and groaned about that night but begged for left overs the next day... What??? Really Nicholas???  I didn't tell them, but of course I wanted to go to El Azteca tonight!  Who wouldn't???  It's delicious!  So... after letting them think we were having sucky supper night... again!... I let them in on the secret I had relished in keeping to myself for the past hour... We were going to El Azteca!!!  ...And I had a coupon!!!  Thank you silly free newspaper that we get every Wednesday that's really not good for anything except El Azteca coupons!  So we sat down in our booth, and I was thinking to myself, "This will be such a peaceful dinner because they're getting exactly what they asked for... no cheese with our whine tonight, right?"  Wrong... so, so wrong!  Tyler ordered chocolate milk... all on his own... Matt and I questioned him and he was sure that he wanted chocolate milk.  Ok, Tyler!  Nicholas ordered Root Beer.  Chips... salsa... queso dip... all of sudden Tyler looked up at me and said so innocently, "Mommy?  I was just kidding when I ordered chocolate milk.  I want white milk!"  Sorry Tyler!  We asked if that's what you REALLY wanted and you said, "YES!"  Sooooo..... you get what you get and you don't throw a fit!  Right, every mother out there who's child is as undecisive as mine?!?  Anyway, the food came and shortly after we started eating, Tyler decided he was not really hungry.  (Most likely upset about the milk still!)  But he still wanted dessert!!!  Oh, silly Tyler!  You have so much to learn!  After paying for supper and feeling very full from eating nearly everything in site, Nicholas suggested that we take "a short family walk" to get some exercise!  Oh to have the energy of a child!  We got home and promptly proceded to waddle together as a family (or herd of cows) around the block and through the park... and "no, we are not stopping to play at the park!"  The boys got their jammies on, brushed their teeth, and got tucked into bed.  Tyler announced that he is "getting so sick" and Nicholas was pissed that he had to go to bed 10 minutes too early...  And just when you think they're in bed and it's time to relax... Tyler was just crying and coughing in his sleep, saying, "My milk hurts."  Just another day of organized chaos...