Warmer... warmer!

When Rob got home from work today, the boys were all over him because they didn't see him at all yesterday. In the midst of their playing, a new game was invented. Not sure how it started, but Rob had the boys cover their eyes and count while he hid their blankies. Then it turned into a “warmer, colder” game of directing them to find their blankies. Serious business. The boys on their seperate walls counting struck me as hilarious. The game continued all night! Eventually the boys started hiding their own blankies and having us just "announce" them as they "searched" for the blankies.

You can also see the big red bouncy ball with the handle that I mentioned in yesterday's blog!

Hoping to get a bunch of photos edited and posted up on facebook this week, now that another month is behind us (almost!). We're in the midst of spring break which means theoretically I'm getting a bunch of stuff done and caught up on with my free time (not running to and from and to and from school). I have been getting SOME stuff done but nothing of importance... mostly what I've been doing is avoiding things like grocery shopping, running other miscellaneous errands, cleaning, etc. I WANT to just be lazy (and have been practicing at every opportunity!) but March and April are basically our busiest months so I can't afford to be lazy! Guess in that case I should stop babbling on and go get some stuff done. Like my grocery list for tomorrow. Good times!

YAY!

For their birthdays (at their birthday party), the boys got these bouncy balls with handles that you sit on to bounce from their Aunt Katie (and family). They LOVE them, and bounced around the living room on them throughout the day today (and yesterday!). Better yet, late this afternoon, they would bounce across the room on them toward me on the couch, then stop and give me nice smiles, and let me take their pictures! I got several great shots of both of them... yay for them sitting still and me nailing my focus (for once!). And yay for great smiles and good times, too! Thank you Aunt Katie!

Week 13 Layout

I must start off by saying... I am so happy with how this week's layout turned out. Do I say that every week? Well I really mean it extra this week. :) I'm just quite happy with how it all ended up coming together... especially since as the week wore on, I didn't feel like I was getting any interesting photos!

As always, click the image to see it (a little bit) bigger. :)

Credits: Kit is Go Lucky by Shabby Princess; Template by Digi Designs by Denise; Labels by Sweet Blossom Designs by Sara; Font is Socially Awkward

Thanks for looking! (I think now I better step away from the computer and attempt to take a picture for today!)

The busy weekend...

So I'm going to attempt a quick review of our crazy few days!

Thursday was the blizzard... which didn't leave us with TOO much snow, but was enough to have the boys BEGGING to play in the snow basically from the moment the first snowflakes started to fall and I uttered the words "snow day." Friday morning they started right back up again, but I had to hold them off because we needed to go pick up Grandpa - my dad - from the airport. The roads were messy but not too bad. When we got home with my dad he offered to shovel our driveway, and the boys of course wanted to help out because that meant playing in the snow! They didn't stay out there too long, but it was enough to stop the begging to play outside for a little while. :) The boys wanted hats and snow gloves to keep warm while they were shoveling (but they didn't need jackets!)... which meant a super cute Brayden wearing his matching hat and sweater.

After lunch the boys REALLLLY wanted Grandpa to put them down for naps, but he had to go over to Chris and Sarah's house to get settled for the weekend. They were devastated... seriously. You'd think they thought they weren't going to see him again. He promised to do a nap the next day to make up for it. Well Saturday was their birthday party and no one came over till after naptime.... so that meant Grandpa got talked into putting the boys to bed. They showed him all the ropes, and sat on his lap - alternating between transfixed and laughing hysterically - while he read them bedtime stories. It was so sweet, he is so great with the kids.

They were crazy exhausted from the busy day (birthday party chaos!) and crashed right out. :)

We spent most of the next day (Sunday) recovering from the party and the overtiredness... the boys didn't go to bed till 9:30pm and were still up promptly at 6:30am. For dinner we headed over to Chris and Sarah's for dinner again (we were also there Friday night)... and one last good visit with Grandpa before he headed home to NC on Monday. I know of two little guys who are going to miss him VERY much! Actually, we will all miss him.

While at Chris and Sarah's, the boys discovered some of Kate's toys they hadn't played with before... specificially a toy cell phone. Jack was sitting on the couch next to me playing with it, and something it was doing just kept cracking him up. It was great - and I was lucky enough to catch his reaction in this photo!

Crazy weekend!

Oh my, I am so far behind! This weekend has been nuts... consequently I've hardly looked at the pictures I've taken, or had more than a minute or two at the computer! Falling behind scares me... it's so easy to get further and further behind... then never catch up! I'm still hoping that doesn't happen, but for now I'm three days/pictures and one layout behind. I'm posting here partially as a reminder to myself of what I have to do! And because I just couldn't wait to share the final product that was the boys' birthday party cake....
Voila! For my first cake, I think it turned out pretty well. I, of course, am hyper-critical of the end result, but even I have to say it's not half bad. :) I realized as I finally got to work on decorating the cake late Friday night that I picked probably one of the most complicated cake designs for my first cake. With lots of colors and outlining and all that fun stuff. Somehow though I managed to get 'er done. The boys were VERY excited about their car cake.... however they did not want to EAT their car cake. They wanted cupcakes. ALL the kids wanted cupcakes. Glad I had those cupcakes that were supposed to go to school with Jack!!!

Our weekend has been jam-packed between the birthday party (which was a huge success - more to come!) and my dad's visit. Unbelievably (for me!), I only took 150 pictures over the course of the weekend, and many of those are duplicates, practicing different settings and stuff to get the best picture. You'd think I'd have 150 pictures of opening presents alone! :) So I've yet to work my way through all those, but as soon as I do, I'll put up my POTD (photo of the days)'s for the past few days and hopefully catch up on a few stories, too!

Snow day

These are the cupcakes I slaved over last night to bring to Jack's class today. Today was to be his last day of school before Spring Break. His birthday is over Spring Break so his class was going to celebrate it today. These cupcakes were also my excuse to practice my frosting technique because I'm attempting a fancy cake for their birthday party this weekend.

This is the scene I woke up to this morning.Yes, a big snowstorm was forecasted. But at 7am this morning I got up to get the boys ready for school, I saw dry sidewalks. I saw some snow on the grass. I did not even THINK that school would be cancelled. After all, it looked clear! As an afterthought, just after making breakfast and just before trying to wrestle the boys into their clothes, I checked the school district website - JUST IN CASE. I NEVER do this. Not unless the roads are questionable! But I did, and thank goodness for that. To my surprise, school was closed today. Jack was sooooo disappointed. I had to sit down and tell him that even though the roads were safe (at bedtime last night we talked about how if the roads were safe, we were going to school, but if the roads were dangerous, we'd have to stay home and not have his birthday at school - and he looked out the window first thing when he woke up and saw "safe" roads).... school was cancelled and we had to stay home. He looks at me heartbroken, saying "so I don't get to bring my show and tell to school? I don't get to bring my birthday cupcakes?" Poor thing. I felt terrible. Because as far as I could see, there was no good reason for there to be no school.

Well as the day goes on, yeah it's obvious that school was cancelled for good reason. Blizzard blew in strong between 11 and 12 in our part of town. We would have been able to get to and from preschool just fine, but big picture, kids who have school all day would have been in danger, so it's all good. And Jack got over it quickly. He knows we get to use the cupcakes for his birthday party, and that we will do his school birthday after Spring Break. Rob's office closed early - he left around 1 and got home a little after 2 (he works 15 mins from home). Things have slowed down at this point and pretty much that's that. Probably all will be back to normal by morning... good old Colorado spring storm!

And here's the view from my front porch at 7:30pm this evening - 12 hours after this morning's virtually snow-free scene. Still only about 4 inches of accumulation at our house though... much less than most other parts of town!

Happy Snow Day! Here's hoping it clears up enough that my dad's flight into town tomorrow is NOT cancelled! If I have to break Jack's heart again by telling him Grandpa isn't making it into town after all... I'm not sure I can take it! :)

Boy in the hood!

Brayden has very few hooded shirts. Jack, on the other hand has quite a few. So Brayden can often be found pulling the back of his regular shirt up over his head like a hood... giving him a humpbacked appearance. Today though he was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and was so excited to be in the hood! Plus, look at those big brown eyes - they slay me!

In other news... still not sure about the status of Jack's health. He stayed home from school today and honestly seemed fine all day... I'm wondering if he's having some anxiety about something at school. It's hard to have a serious conversation with a barely five year old boy who is not one to talk about feelings. :) He IS going to school tomorrow though... that is if we don't get snowed in! We're expecting a storm here tomorrow... although one never can tell what it's going to amount to till it's over here in lovely Colorado. Typically I'm all for a snow day, but considering I spent a couple of hours tonight frosting cupcakes for Jack's class tomorrow, I'm hoping we DO have school!

Two for one

Two days in one post! So today wasn't all that much better than yesterday but I don't know... life goes on, right? Monkey boy is just 3 and 3 isn't that much fun so I've just got to plug away. And now Jack... well he seems to be getting sick again. Darn it! Can't cold and flu season be over yet????

All that said, on with the photos. I'm not one to encourage my children to play with their food. In fact it's generally something I don't tolerate well - it drives me nuts! However, if a dinosaur shaped chicken nugget is somehow going to encourage my child to eat more, play away. I believe Jack's t-rex is attacking his milk cup in this photo. In fact I even paid more for these dino-shaped nuggets. I am not ashamed. Okay maybe a little ashamed.

That was last night. Today we had crayon bowling. That is... lining up crayons and knocking them over as if knocking down bowling pins. Since we have had our Wii, Jack has learned quite a bit about bowling. The other night when we were out to dinner at Red Robin, Jack took his crayons and started lining them up and knocking them down. This afternoon he wanted to play crayon bowling at home. So I got out the big bag of crayons, and Jack picked out the Red Robin crayons from the selection and lined them up and knocked them down over and over again... getting a lot of strikes and spares. Brayden was doing the same thing on the opposite side of the table (with the triangle crayons). Silly boys.

Not a good day

I could tell from early this morning with Brayden that he was in a MOOD and today was not going to be fun. Now maybe my attitude brought about a self-fulfilling prophecy... I thought today was going to be bad from the start, so it went bad. Or maybe I was just right and he was in a mood and today was destined to be bad. In any case, it was bad, and I have a bad day hangover. It was one of those days where I felt like the only way I could get my kids to LISTEN to me was by yelling (which I'm not a fan of doing)... and by the time we were getting ready for bed (Rob was at school tonight), all three of us were in tears. I yelled, Brayden cried, Jack cried because I made Brayden cry and was mean, and I cried because I felt like I was mean and just wished someone would listen to me. And we all hugged and made up and it's all good except I feel like I've been hit by a train.

My point? I took a couple of pictures today. Nothing very interesting. And no desire to look at them really at the moment. So I'm taking a 365 day off and hope to be back tomorrow with something from today, and something more uplifting tomorrow!

Week 12 Layout

I can't believe I am still caught up. It is getting harder and harder every week to stay on top of this... I really feel like I have way too much to do! But I am happy that I'm still caught up! :)

As always, click to see bigger (bigger-ish... it's really not that much bigger!).....

Credits: Kit - Urban Clover by Miss Mint at Peppermint Creative; Template by Simply Yin; Gemstones by Gretchen Tripp; Font is SBC Love Mom

I really like this one, too. I went with a green-ish theme for my baby's St. Patty's Day birthday. :)

An afternoon at the park

Another beautiful spring day prompted us to take a family trip to the park this afternoon. Today also marks the end of spring-like weather (well, the nice kind) for awhile so we wanted to take advantage. The boys had a great time playing and scootering around O’Brien park in Parker... until the wind picked up and the storm started blowing in. Afterwards we went to dinner at Red Robin. Here’s hoping the spring-like weather returns soon... we’re going to miss it.

Coming soon... Week 12 layout!

NOT my favorite time of day

One of the most frustrating times of the day. Teeth-brushing time. It is a battle every night. Open your mouth, stop moving, don’t swallow the toothpaste, stop moving, stop talking, look forward, keep your tongue in your mouth, STOP MOVING! I pretty much dread teeth brushing time every night and would skip it altogether if I didn’t care about my kids’ dental hygeine. When Rob is home at night, I try to get him to do it instead. And to think I should be doing this twice a day, not just once. Yes I admit it. Our kids only brush their teeth once a day most days. I can't fathom the thought of doing this twice a day until absolutely necessary. Maybe once they are better at brushing their own teeth. Jack refuses at the moment. Brayden tries but doesn't do a very good job. And Jack goes to the dentist regularly and has excellent teeth so I guess we're doing something right. But my oh my. Do I hate brushing teeth.

Not much else to report. Quiet day here. Brought the crib to my mom's basement and helped her with some stuff at her house. Ran some pre-birthday party (next weekend) errands. Tomorrow should be another quiet day too... then the craziness of the next few weeks begins!

First day of Spring!

After getting up from their naps today, the boys decided they wanted to go for a walk. That means... Rob and I get to walk, while Jack scooters and Brayden rides his bike. We walked to the school by our house (where the boys will both be going to school next year - Jack in kindergarten, Brayden in preschool) and played on the preschool playground. Brayden was pretending to be the ice cream man and taking orders for strawberry ice cream (apparently that's the only kind he had) from Rob and I. Then low and behold, in the neighborhood next to the school we heard an ice cream truck! The boys watched from the fence for the ice cream truck until it came into view. When we didn't buy them ice cream, they decided it was time to head back home. Still, it was a fitting event for the first day of spring!

We also had a playdate at Wash Park with Mollie and Madeline earlier in the day. The kids all seemed to have a good time, Mollie and I had a nice chat as always, and I also ran into one of my old college roommates who I don't think I'd seen since college - crazy! I took pictures while at the park too... but didn't get anything very exciting. I don't feel I'm having very good luck behind the camera this week.

A gift for the new guy

It's kind of become my tradition to make a birth record cross stitch for the new babies of my family members and close friends. I've been cross stitching since I was a kid basically... and rarely a year has gone by when I haven't done some sort of cross stitch project. As soon as the parents-to-be pick out their nursery decor, I start shopping and get to work on my cross stitch for the new baby! Admittedly, after having my own babies (whose cross stitches were made by my dear friend Kerry, not me!) I admittedly fell a little behind "schedule" with some of these gifts... one was about six months late, the other ended up being a 1st birthday gift. But now that my guys are a bit older and I have a bit more free time (and even some time to do my own thing when they are awake!), I try to get them done promptly. This project has been done and waiting for the relevant statistics for a few weeks. I finished it up and got it framed tonight. I have to say, I'm especially happy with how this one turned out, and I can't wait to give it to little PK! (Partly because that means I'll be around the new guy again and can get some more new guy snuggles!)

Now... I must get cracking on my cross stitch for baby Carter... due in 3 weeks! I don't want to get behind! :) Will share that one when it's done. :)

The new guy

Yesterday at 10:08am Rob's brother Kelly and his wife Marcia welcomed a new baby boy into the world! (Which also just so happened to be our Brayden's birthday). Today we headed up to Good Samaritan Medical Center to meet Patrick Kelly (or "PK"). He's tiny (7lbs 8oz - good newborn size, but so tiny compared to what I am used to!) and cute and of course we love him already! He snoozed most of the time we were there but we did get to spend some time with him wide awake. :) The boys were a little less than interested in him... but at least they didn't freak out with jealousy when we held him! Jack says he is not shy around babies anymore now, so it's okay if we have another one. Ha ha. :) The boys were restless hanging out in the hospital room until their cousins (new big sisters Cori and Joey) showed up... then the four of them had fun playing together. Oh... there is nothing quite like new baby snuggles. This is the first new baby in a string of new babies expected by other family members and friends. My uterus is going to start aching from exposure to all this baby-ness before too long. Must... resist........ (for now). :)

Look who's 3!!!

Happy Happy birthday today to my baby boy, Brayden! I just cannot fathom that it's been THREE YEARS since our little guy officially joined the family! Little dude! We love you so so much! Or as Brayden says, we "love you a wuhly wuhly wuhly wuhly YOT!" (That's a really really really really lot).

We had a kind of hectic but a good day! Brayden loved the little bit of decorating I did for him last night, it really made him feel special on his special day! Then we took Jack to school and he told everybody withing hearing distance that today was his birthday! After that we had to take Daddy to the doctor's office for a cortisone injection in his back. Rob has some severe back problems due to two hurniated discs. While Rob was at the doctor's and Jack at school, I decided to take Brayden for a breakfast date. We went to Starbucks and I got a coffee, Brayden got a chocolate milk, and we shared a muffin. Unfortunately I should know better than to let Brayden drink chocolate milk. He always drinks it too fast and makes himself sick! Thankfully he didn't throw up - THIS TIME! We got Jack from school and soon after my mom picked Rob up from the doctor and brought him home! Brayden got some birthday presents from Grandma, who also bought McDonald's lunch for us. After naptime there were more presents, some playing outside, Papa John's pizza for dinner, and last but not least, birthday cake! I made brownies this year instead of a cake, but frosted them like a cake. They were super yummy and Brayden especially enjoyed them! Now Jack decided to chug a big bottle of water mid-way through his brownie and did make himself throw up.

Side note. One of my least favorite things about being a parent - all the vomit.

Anyway. Jack didn't even skip a beat and went about his night. As did Brayden! They had fun playing with Brayden's new cars (and Jack got one, too!) and Brayden put together his three new puzzles. He loves puzzles! He also got phone calls from his Grandma Jeanne and Aunt Katie. Now they are in bed. Sigh... it was a good day, but it wore me out!

Truly, I can't believe my baby is three! I can't imagine my life without him!

In other news... we also welcomed a new guy into the Roe family today... Rob's brother Kelly and his wife Marcia had their baby boy, Patrick Kelly, today. We are excited to go meet him very soon!

And an editorial note about yesterday's photo - I took it while laying down on the street on my stomach. Rob got our other camera and took a picture of that... I'll have to share that one another time!

In closing... one last, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRAYDEN! And Happy St. Patrick's Day, too! :)

Hopscotch

Today was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the sunshine and warm temperatures as much as we could. When we went outside this afternoon, Jack was inspired to play hopscotch. So we drew him a hopscotch board (is that what it's called? I guess I have no idea!) with sidewalk chalk just outside of our driveway. He and Brayden had painted some rocks at Aunt Katie's house last weekend and they were perfect for playing hopscotch. Jack had a great time jumping back and forth along his hopscotch squares.

Keeping things short and sweet tonight - it's already late! I spent my evening wrapping birthday presents, baking brownies (for a birthday "cake"), and decorating a little bit for the monkey's big day tomorrow!

Week 11 Layout

It's hard to believe 11 weeks of 2009 are already behind us. Doing this day by day, week by week, diary of the year is really making it seem to go by even faster, right before my eyes!

So anyway here is this week's layout - not as late as I thought it would be! Click to make it larger...

Credits: Kit - Chirpi Delight by Victoria Greenlees; Template by Lindsay Jane Designs; Font - Pea Christen; Doodle by Nancy Kubo (recolored); Gemstones by Gretchen Tripp; Staple by ksharonkdesigns.

I've got the Sunday night blues...

... and I'm falling behind on my P365 scrapbook. For this week anyway. I feel like it was a photographically boring week and I had to really dig deep to find ANYTHING to take a picture of! Hopefully next week will be more interesting.

I really don't like Sunday night. The beginning of a new week is always daunting. Back to school for Jack and Rob (except that Rob happens to be off school this week), back to work for Rob, back to the grind in general.

So here is the dog-pile, Roe style. The boys really love their stuffed dogs. They end up everywhere, and they're pretty constant companions. They are cleaner than real dogs. But sometimes when they are spread out around the living room I end up collecting them and piling them up on the couch. In this pile are two Sparkies, two Numbutts (yes, Numbutts), two Fluffies, a Syrup, a Slooshy, and another unnamed dog. Oh, and Snoopy. It's a regular dog party on the couch.

As for today... leftover night for dinner. Which for me means working to clean out the fridge. Two of us had leftovers, the other two just had random food that was in the house. Rob had chili. Brayden had bagel bites. Jack and I shared some leftover pizza... and I also heated up some mashed potatoes and chicken fingers from Old Chicago. When Rob saw my plate he grabbed the camera. And he scooted my half-full cup of coffee leftover from breakfast and scooted it into the frame to add to the humor of my gross dinner. I did NOT drink the coffee with dinner - I drank water! We really hate food - we're in such a food rut right now! I'd eat out for lunch and dinner every day if I could.

Living room chaos

LOOK! I made my blog pretty! I have plans for even more blog prettiness but this is a start. Thanks Amber for the link! :)

So we live in a pretty tiny home. In our tiny home we have big furniture. There is precious little space for play for the boys. Some people have play rooms. We have a living/dining/play room. Okay we actually do have a play room upstairs but the boys much prefer to be downstairs and they do not mind spreading out. We have blocks and cars and tools on the ottoman. We have tools and stuffed animals and blankets on the couches. We have more tools and stuffed animals and cars and trains and toy zoo animals and race trains and trucks and dinsoaurs and put together puzzles and stray puzzle pieces all over the floor. We have trucks and little figures on the table. Cards on the counters. Various toys stuffed between the couch cushions. Their stuff is everywhere. And while the mess spread out everywhere drives me a little bit crazy, the boys are content to just walk right over around and through it without a second though! It's a miracle no one has tripped and fallen and been seriously injured yet!

What you see is really all of the space the boys have for play (not including the dining room table just outside of the left of the frame - man I wish I had a wider angle lens!). Today they very successfully covered pretty much the entire living space downstairs. We can't wait till someday when we have a bigger house!

Whose idea was THIS!?!?

(HINT: It was not Mommy's idea).

So I'm in the kitchen making some coffee this morning, not really paying that much attention to EXACTLY what the boys are doing... they are in the living room RIGHT NEXT TO ME so it can't be that bad, right?

Are you freaking kidding me?!

See Exhibit A.

Okay it's not THAT bad. But still... the fact that they took it upon themselves to empty almost every toy in their two big downstairs toy boxes was a bit of a shock! As soon as I noticed I asked them to stop. They both kind of looked at me like "Hmmm... I'll take your idea into consideration." And then they keep diligently working away at their master plan for this mess. They continue, as I say "No boys. You CANNOT put ALL of your toys on the couch." Again, blank stares. More systematic adding of toys to the big pile on the couch. Me: dismayed. Finally, I give up. They are clearly paying no attention to me and have some need for this mountain of toys. So I simply tell them that if they choose to continue, I will be having no part in the cleanup... they'll be taking care of that one themselves!

So why, pray tell, the big pile of toys on the couch?

It's a garbage truck. The toys are the garbage in the back. Brayden is driving the garbage truck, and Jack is the "partner" who holds onto the back of the truck and empties the trash cans into the truck. Exhibit B - the actual garbage truck setup. I give them an "A" for creativity. And for the record - they did clean it up themselves, much later in the day.

Little boy in a big bed

That's my little boy in his big bed. Hard to believe that this little dude is going to be "3" in less than a week! He's been a little under the weather (again!) this week... so it was no surprise that he took an extra long nap today... and didn't even budge when I snuck into his room to check on him... not ONLY with the intention of snapping a picture or two, but also just because I wanted to check on him! :) It's no secret I love watching my kiddos when they are sleeping. He's been doing so well with the bed transition... bedtimes are still a little wild because both the boys are in the room... but at naptime Brayden pretty much goes straight to sleep. He doesn't even leave the room when he wakes up at the end of his nap - he waits for Rob or I to go in and get him (so far). I'm really pleased with how it's going on the whole. It's hard to see my little guy growing up though. The diapers and his baby accent are almost the only remnants of his baby-hood that are left! There are a lot of new babies expected in the family over the next few months though... the first of whom is very likely to arrive on Brayden's 3rd birthday.

Right-handed

That's me - right-handed. And I use my right hand for EVERYTHING. I cook, I clean, I write... and those are the basics. Then there are the other things I do "for fun" that tax my right hand even more - or more specifically - my wrist. I knit, crochet, cross-stitch. I take photos. I use my computer... and my laptop mouse is powered by my right pointer finger and directed with my wrist. All that said, my right wrist tends to have painful flare-ups of what I think is probably carpal tunnel syndrome, but it hasn't actually been diagnosed. So when I have a flare-up, I have a wrist brace I have to wear to keep my wrist still. I can still do all my usual stuff, but without twisting my wrist, therefore helping the painful flare-up to go away. Wouldn't you know it - I'm having a flare up right now. I had loaned my wrist brace to my sister-in-law Sarah who badly sprained her right wrist in an accident in December. (She happens to also have major carpal tunnel issues in her right wrist, too). She misplaced it but thankfully has two other braces which I am now borrowing. It's such a pain, but my oh my does it feel so much better to have my wrist STILL. Makes all my daily activities a little harder, especially taking pictures, typing, cross-stitching... that sort of thing. So here's my right hand in all it's wrapped up glory. And my Nikon (love!). And my bathroom mirror. And squinty "I'm taking a picture" eye. ;-) And last but not least, my grown out highlights - man I need a haircut and highlights! Trying to hold out till just before Vegas...

New toy!

Yesterday we got the Wii... today we bought our first new toy to go with it - Guitar Hero. We'd played Guitar Hero at my brother's recently... Rob and the boys really enjoyed it. We'd be interested in getting it ourselves but didn't have the game system... till yesterday. It just so happened that today was Rob's big huge LEED (don't ask me what that stands for cuz I don't know! I just know it's something with green building!) exam. He was so nervous and honestly, so was I. It was an expensive test, which he had a lot invested in passing... so we decided that if he passed, we could buy Guitar Hero. If he had to take it again... well, then Guitar Hero would have to wait!

He passed!

Which is not just exciting because of the Guitar Hero... but really I am so happy for Rob that he passed his test! He worked so hard studying for this test, so it would have been a travesty if he didn't pass! Yay Rob!

We also went out to dinner at Old Chicago's to celebrate... yum! Then we got home and set up the new game and we each played a couple of songs before getting the boys down for the night.... which is still kind of drama, by the way. Tonight Brayden fell off the bunk bed ladder AND rolled off the bed, in the span of 15 or so minutes... clearly they weren't working too hard to go to sleep!

And contrary to what you may think... Rob and I are not having a Guitar Hero marathon now that the boys are in bed! His quarter isn't quite over yet... while passing this test completes one of his classes... he has another project to complete for his other class.... so I've been watching the season premiere of Dancing with the Stars while Rob has been doing his homework. And searching for a template for this week's P365 layout... I can't find anything I like!

Amazing I got this week's layout done on time!

This weekend has been BUSY. Okay I guess we didn't DO much... but while we usually have Daddy around on weekends... he's got a HUGE test tomorrow (Monday) so he's been at school all weekend (Friday too) studying. But between the major life transitions (new sleeping arrangements) and Rob being gone because he was studying... it's FELT really busy! Somehow this morning and this evening I found some time to finish the scrap.

This afternoon Rob took a study break and we headed up north to his sister Katie's house for a birthday get together for Rob's brother Brian and his dad. We had breakfast food, Wii games, and the kids played a couple of rounds of Uno Attack. Jack and Brayden recently learned how to play Uno... a "my first Uno" version of the game... very simple. This "attack" version is more complicated, but still fun. Here are the boys studying their cards. I think it was Brayden's turn here. Uno only lasted awhile though... really all they wanted to do was play the Wii. So imagine their surprise when they found out Grandpa Tom, Rob's dad, got them a Wii for their birthday. As soon as Jack found out he just wanted to come home and play! This is going to be fun... but hard too! It's ALL he wants to do already, and we're going to have some serious limitations which I know aren't going to go over well! Not to mention, I'm starting to get a taste of how expensive this system is... getting the game console is just the beginning! I hope we can prevent ourselves from getting too caught up in it - we really can't afford to!

So now my layout... as always... click the image to see it bigger... a little bigger, anyway. :)

Credits: Kit - Little Bird by Ellie Lash; Fetti Flowers by Misty Cato; Template by M Originals; Font - Expletive Deleted

New sleeping arrangements....

Look - I'm trying my hand at a creative title. :) Just wanted to share a couple of quick pictures from last night first... I snuck into the boys' room after they were sound asleep to sleep how they were doing with their new sleep setup. This is what I found... it's blurry because my camera's ISO maxes out at 1600 and I didn't want to risk a flash... so my shutter speed was pretty slow and I got some hand shake, especially on the picture of Brayden... but still cute enough to share.

Jack on the top bunk... I had to climb onto Brayden's bed to see him...


And Brayden on the bottom bunk... he started the night on top of the covers but I guess at some point Jack taught him how to get under the covers and sleep on the pillow. :)



Now March 7 - Brayden's first nap in the big boy bed. I realize Brayden seem to be monopolizing this week... guess it was the anticipation of the upcoming milestone, and then the last minute decision to just go for the big boy bed! I was of course nervous for his first nap outside of the confinement of the crib. All in all, I'd say it went well. He did come out of the room twice... the first time to tell me I forgot to hug and kiss his polar bear (which I have NEVER done before today). The second time it was to tell me he was all done... after 20 mins. Ummm... nope. So back to bed he went and he was not happy about it! But within a few minutes he was asleep. He was clearly tired... but change is hard, understandably. I'm not sure how long he would have slept if Jack hadn't loudly bounded down the stairs at 3pm when his quiet time is over. I could hear Brayden rustling around so I headed up to check on him... and brought my camera on the off chance that he was still sleeping. He wasn't... but when I walked in I caught him sitting up and rubbing his eyes... he'd just woken up.

We'll see how long the party lasts in their room tonight after bedtime... hopefully not TOO late!

March 6

Another major milestone for the Roe boys. Last weekend we bought a ladder for the bunk bed so that Jack could more easily climb up and down when the time came for the big move. Today we picked up said ladder, and next thing I know I'm being talked into just making all the sleeping arrangement transitions tonight. As my three readers know (ha ha!), I knew this night was coming. I just didn't expect to decide on a whim to just do it and get it over with. Rob tells me this is the best way because if we plan ahead I'll just stress over it and be dreading it until the time comes. This way, we just do it and don't have time to worry about it. Well I worried about it for the two solid hours before bedtime, let me tell you. The boys were soooo excited though. We set up the ladder and talked about the new sleeping arrangements and within a minute they were both moving all their stuffed animals to the "new" beds and getting things read. I think they would have been happy to go to bed right then even though it was a good hour and a half before their normal bedtime! Well we decided maybe we should put them to bed early tonight just in case this new setup turns into an all night party - which is what happened when they first started sharing a room. Sure enough, an hour after going to bed, they were still going. It took Brayden less than a minute after lights off and good night's to come out of the room asking about something. I think he came out a total of three times. And from the sound of it, there was much standing up on the bottom bunk to peek up at Jack (as seen in this picture) and much hanging over of the top bunk to talk to Brayden. This isn't a HUGE adjustment for Jack... but this is Brayden's first real taste of freedom. They were in and out of the room, up and down from the beds, needing water, kleenex, comforting ("Brayden yelled at me!") and more. Ultimately something upset Brayden and he started crying and Rob went up to console him, convinced him to cuddle up with his polar bear (which has essentially been his pillow in his crib), and now there is quiet. I am so not ready for this! But I can't wait to go in and peek on them in a little while, when I'm sure they are sleeping! Now I'm just hoping they aren't up at the crack of dawn... and that Brayden will nap tomorrow despite his newfound freedom. Assuming this works, we'll be taking down the crib soon. Bittersweet! The pictures I took at bedtime did not come out great, but I still wanted to share one... I'll try and get a better one tomorrow night.


So for today I have actually chosen a different picture to represent this day in my 365 album.


Last week one of my closest friends had her standard 20 week ultrasound to make sure her second baby was growing as appropriate, and of course if she was having a boy or a girl. Sadly, while she did discover that she was having a girl, they also discovered that this little girl was not healthy as hoped, but had an apparent genetic disorder which would ultimately prove fatal. This diagnosis was confirmed by a perinatologist early this week, and on Tuesday morning, March 3, Mark and Mollie welcomed their baby girl - Grace - into this world for a brief time. Today they had a memorial mass to celebrate how Grace has touched our lives in the short time she was with us. I felt blessed to be invited to both attend the service, and participate in it as a reader. It was a beautiful memorial for this little angel. This week has been an emotional roller coaster as we have mourned the loss of this dear child and tried to understand the unfathomable. I trust in God's wisdom and plan for this baby, and yet it still hurts in the depth of my soul when I think about the pain my friends are experiencing in losing their child. It makes me realize just how blessed Rob and I are to have two beautiful, healthy children, who we can hold close to us each day. Even when they drive us crazy, we know we are truly blessed. My continued thoughts and prayers are with Mark, Mollie, big sister Madeline and their families in their suffering, but I have faith that Grace is in a better place now, and that all our lives have truly been GRACED by her existence, however brief. I know that she has touched my life.

March 5

I had to wake Brayden up from his nap today, in the hopes that he'd go to sleep tonight without much drama. He tends to not settle down to sleep very easily at night. But mostly I just can't resist the sleeping baby. So he's not a baby anymore, he's almost 3 (have I mentioned that yet? - ha ha!). When he's sleeping so peacefully, sucking his thumb, holding his blankie... he's my baby. :) In fact, he'll always be my baby. At least until there's another baby.

As for bedtime... well, it was still drama. But at least he seemed to go to sleep faster than "normal."

If I could, I think I'd just sit and watch my babies sleep for at least awhile every day. There is almost nothing better in this world than the sleeping babies. Oh I love it. It erases all the beasty moments, which with Brayden right now, there are plenty of those!

March 4

So it occurs to me that my post titles are incredibly boring. I'm never good at titles. Perhaps I shall work on that!

As for today. Jack was back at school. I kept him home yesterday (neglected to update about this) just in case... the falling asleep at 6:30pm thing was just suspicious! But he was fine all day yesterday really so he went back today. When I picked him up from school, his teacher told me that they took a trip to the school nurse because he got really tired and just wanted to lay down and felt kind of warm. He didn't have a fever though according to the nurse. He was however excited to take a trip into the "big school." (His classroom is in a modular behind the school). He was fine by the end of his school day though - played outside and had snack. So yeah - who the heck knows. It's so hard to tell when kids are REALLY sick sometimes!

When we got home today he was a little cranky but full of energy. The boys have this big toy dump truck - it was a present from Uncle Ryan and Aunt Pam for Jack's 2nd birthday. Over the past couple of years it's been used in more ways than I ever realized a toy dump truck could be used. Today it was a sort of a cart that they used to push each other back and forth across the length of our living room/kitchen area. Probably you don't want to know why Brayden has his pants off though.

Belated Week 9 layout

Better late than never, right? I just could not pull it together over the weekend - there is a lot going on that I haven't blogged about specifically. I finally finished it tonight - not completely pleased with it but it's good enough! I'm keeping better caught up this week and hoping to have next week's layout on time.

Watching the stupid Bachelor as I finished this and posted it... so I'm so distracted by the insanity and my own disgustedness with the whole thing, that hopefully I didn't make any major typos or anything!

Credits: Kit - Vintage Florals by Shabby Princess; Template - Helen Clyde; Font - Prissy Frat Boy

March 3

I wanted to capture this sight because it's one I don't think we'll be seeing too much more of... and that is, Brayden in his crib. I know I've mentioned this recently that we are getting ready to make the big bed transition... Brayden out of the crib, and Jack up to the top bunk. Over the weekend we headed out to the furniture store where we bought our bunk beds to buy a ladder for the bunk bed (for whatever reason, at the time we bought the beds, we didn't feel it necessary to buy a ladder?). The end of the bed does work as a ladder, but not a great one. Anyway this isn't about the top bunk - it's about Brayden in the crib! He's so big, he'll be 3 two weeks from today! He's perfectly comfortable in his crib, cuddled up with all his animal friends (I counted awhile back but I can't remember... I know it's more than 20 stuffed animals in there with him though!). The crib setup is nice for Mommy and Daddy and Jack too... when Brayden wakes up, he's essentially trapped until someone gets him out! He's not going to be like his big brother and just sit nicely waiting for someone to tell him it's okay to get up now when he's no longer behind bars! Still, it's time to start thinking about giving him that freedom. When Brayden moves to his big boy bed, and we take the crib down, it'll be the end of the baby era in our house! There has been at least one crib set up for the past 5 years! When this crib is gone... that's that! At least until (if!) we have another baby.

March 2

Weird turn of events in the Roe household tonight. We had a great day... Jack had school, then we played on the playground after school... came home and had some lunch and quiet time... then headed back outside to play. The weather was 70+ degrees today, which is the warmest it's been so far this year! We had a great time playing outside, went for a walk, played at the school down the road, played in our driveway some more... then out of nowhere Jack wants to go inside... and inside starts complaining of a tummy ache. He was suddenly kind of lethargic... but still wanted to eat dinner. He ate about a bowl and a half of mac and cheese, then retired to the couch and fell asleep... at 6:30pm! I had to carry him upstairs and basically force him out of his clothes and into his pajamas. So I've already called him in sick for school tomorrow, and I'm just hoping he doesn't have yet another stomach bug... we've had more that enough of those this season already! Here he is crashed on the couch just before I had to wake him up and carry him upstairs to bed!

March 1

How is it possible that it's March already? Where is this year going!?!?

Big changes for the van’s seating arrangements tonight. We decided to switch Jack’s seat from the 5-point harness to a regular seatbelt. That also meant switching the boys’ seats to the opposite sides of the bench seat so that Jack’s shoulder belt is easier to reach. He was very excited, so the three boys went out and took a “test drive” with the new seating arrangements. It’s a little bit of a struggle to get the regular seatbelt buckled, but Jack can already get it unbuckled by himself, which will be a big help for me down the road!

So a side note... I have been trying to complete and post my weekly layouts by Sunday night... I'm a little behind this week. I started my layout late... and while I have my pictures and journaling all done, I haven't dressed it up at all yet. I'm trying to get it finished tonight, but I'm not sure if it'll happen at this point. Will share it as soon as it's done!