Look what just arrived in the mail...

...it's a necklace I won on my friend Angela Henrie's blog. I couldn't believe it when I saw my name as the winner. I was giddy and excited because I NEVER win anything!! I didn't get to pick which necklace I won, but this is the one I wanted, so HOORAY for me!!!! Her pieces are AMAZING so go check out her blog. Thanks Angela! I loooove this necklace!

Metal Mouth, Brace Face...

...those are just a few of the names we used to call people who had braces. Well, today Brody got braces and I'm hoping no one dares to call him any of those names. Oh he is beyond thrilled with his new look. He is carrying a mirror in his pocket and strips of wax. Remember when wax was a huge part of surviving your days with braces? He chose light blue and dark blue bands for his braces which look waaaaay cool! He ended up with 6 total braces on the top teeth. Hard to believe that they will be on for a year and that when he is 12 he will have to do it all again!

So here's a funny story. The cute girl who put Brody's braces on started a movie for him. He chose Scooby Doo. During the whole process he was in "Scooby Doo Land." He didn't have a clue what was going on. So she finishes up with him, takes his head set off, takes the super large mouth opener thingy out of his mouth and sits him up in the chair. All of a sudden he starts moaning and freeeeeaaaaaking out yelling, "what is wrong with my teeth?" "What happened?" The cute tech looks at me a little startled and says to him, "Those are the braces you are feeling?" And then with a laugh she says, "Did you think you were coming in for a cleaning?" He could not figure out what had just happened. Jeremy and I were cracking up!

Does this picture frighten you? This was Brody getting prepped for the braces. Now you can see why he is getting them!

Dr. Robison is the best. Jeremy and I went to high school with him and think he is super! His office is AAAAAAmazing and so is the staff. We can't wait to see how he fixes Brody's teeth! Stop by and see him if your thinking about getting Braces. Tell him Brody sent you, he'll hook ya up!

18 Months old and SURPRISE...

I'M NOT PREGNANT!!!

I know that my not sound like a big deal to any of you, but usually when I have an 18 month old, I'm announcing I'm pregnant. But I'm not and truthfully, I'm good with it! This is how I know I'm DONE! I loooove being pregnant but I don't think my tired old body could handle another pregnancy or C-Section. I don't think my mind and insanity could handle another baby. I guess that means game over! Time to move out of the baby stage and onto water skiing and snow skiing trips without having to worry about babies! It's a good thing...right? All I can say is that it's a good thing Miss B. was baby #4 cause if she would have showed up as baby #1, she may have been an only child. She is so darling and funny but man oh man she is giving me a run for my money. She is into everything, hates her car seat, and wants to be held ALL THE TIME. These are difficult things when there are 3 others who need just as much if not more attention. I can't turn my back for even a second without her emptying the dishwasher, dryer, bathroom drawers or kitchen cabinets. As quick as I put things away she is into something else. I think she secretly has eight arms but I've only seen 2 of them. She has quite the vocabulary right now. She answers "yes" or "no" to tell us what she needs. Whenever she opens the back door she says, "cold" and pulls her arms into her chest and does a shivering motion. I swear I hear her say "chicken" and "turkey" and "sandwich" but who knows. She refuses to sit in her high chair to eat. It's always on my lap or not eat at all. Her favorite foods are pancakes, anything sweet like cupcakes, cookies, candy, bean burros (preferably El Charro), cheese crisps, sandwiches, and ice cream. Healthy...I know! Miss B. is waaaay more independent then any of my boys were at this age, yet just as needy. She is addicted to her binky which she is only allowed to have at night at nap time. She loves all things girly yet she is rough and rowdy like the others. She loves jumping on the trampoline and dancing when music comes on. She loves to read books and get into her brothers' DSI and Legos. We love this Tasmanian Devil and can't wait to see what the next 6 months bring. Just so I won't forget, at 18 months:

weight: 21.4 lbs (10%)

height: 31.5 inches (44%)

head circumference: 17.9 inches (22%)

Recieved DTaP, HIB, PV, Prevnar shots

(FYI: didn't EVEN cry once. Just a little flinch and she was outta there.)

Nursery Time!

Now that this little lady is 18 months old, she can legally go to nursery. Lucky for me she has been going since about 13 months since Jeremy and I both have callings. She loves Sister Banks and brother and Sister Mason. They are the best nursery leaders ever. She loves singing time and playing with (fighting with) the other kids. It is never a struggle to get her to go to nursery. She happily walks herself there or lets our cute neighbor Mallorie take her. I love that she can play and have fun without having to behave while I'm trying to help out in Primary. Hooray for nursery!

My friend Ray

This is Ray.

He is a winter visitor from Minnesota.

He works at my favorite grocery store Bashas'.

Every winter I look forward to him coming back to work.

He helps me load up my car with groceries each week so that I can wrestle

Miss B. into her car seat.

I like this man.

He is honest...a little too honest.

He recently got a tattoo on the back of his bald head. I'm not sure why but it makes me laugh.

I can tell that he used to be a wild man in his younger days.

He's quiet but has a smile that makes you happy.

I will miss Ray when he heads back to Minnesota in a couple months. Then I will get help out to my car from the special needs kids who work at Bashas. I like them too. They think my suburban is cool. It is cool!

Ray thought this tattoo on the back of his head would be cool. He told me a story about this tattoo that is waaaaay to inappropriate to blog about. In case you can't tell, the tattoo is of a stick figure man mowing the lawn. The stuff flying through the air is the grass clippings.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's St. Patrick's Day. I'm not Irish, but I love this holiday. It's fun to think there is a little leprechaun sneaking around adding green to everything. This morning started out with the traditional St. Patrick's Day breakfast. Green eggs, green pancakes, bacon, toast. Sounds exciting right? Too bad all the kids ended up eating bananas and cereal instead. Funny how the color of things changes their opinion on what it is going to taste like. I don't care though, they think the "green" breakfast is fun, even though they won't eat a bite! While I was making breakfast, the boys played a "Lucky Charms" math activity where they had to sort and graph their Lucky Charms cereal. I thought it was interesting that they really didn't care for the marshmallow shaped cereal. After breakfast we headed over to the park for some fun in the sun. The boys all took their bikes which was fun. This afternoon we made rainbow cupcakes (I know Anne...can you believe it?) and played outside. After dinner we had a quick game of St. Patrick's Day BINGO and concentration. The Leprechaun was nice this year and didn't play any tricks on us. Hope your day was full of green fun!

Case showing off his Lucky Charm graph.

Brody kept asking me to take pictures of him going down the slide. It was funny.

Ledger was feeling much better today.

Oh Miss B. You are a funny little thing. The minute we got to the park she kicked her shoes off and headed to the slides. She is totally independent and didn't need any help from me. Hard to believe she is only 18 months old as of today.

Check out this fruit rainbow I made to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Nothing like fresh fruit with marshmallow creme dip. What's up with Bashas' not having any blueberries for my fruit rainbow. Bummer!

Gross!

Five minutes into our drive home from the cabin last night, Ledger threw up ALL over himself and his car seat. As I was trying to get him out of the car seat, he threw up all over me. GROSS! Jeremy quickly grabbed his dirty clothes from his suit case and cleaned Ledger and our car. You can imagine how our car smelled for the three hour drive home. GROSS! Lucky for us he didn't throw up any more. He did however end up sleeping in the bathroom last night...just in case! It was his "special" little spot for the night. He thought it was cool. I felt relieved not having to worry about him barfing in his bed all night. Everyone was happy!

From Hot To Cold (kinda)

It's still spring break and we are at the cabin! Today we took Brody and Case to Sunrise for a day of snow skiing. We signed them up for lessons which was TOTALLY worth it! It was a great confidence boost for them both and got them ready for skiing with Jeremy and I this afternoon. Brody was AMAZING! He did so great going on the chair lift and down the mountain all by himself. Case did great also but since he is more of a risk taker, he wanted to FLY down the mountain and then fall on his back when he was in trouble. This made Jeremy and I a little nervous so we had to set a few more guidelines with him (mean parents!). The weather was so warm which was great. All we needed was ski pants and a sweatshirt...PERFECT! The mountain was empty because the snow was not so great. It was waaaaay slushy due to the warm weather. We had a BLAST today but are kicking ourselves that we didn't take Ledger. He was so sad when we left this morning. We promised him that we would take him next time. We are so excited to ski some more. Hopefully we will get one more snow storm so we can go before summer comes.

Case was ready to ski first thing this morning.

Brody was all dressed for a winter day of snow ski. Five minutes into it he was sweating and having to shed his clothes. As you can see from the Lodge in the background, there was not a lot of snow.

Jeremy was freeeeeaking out that Brody was riding the chair lift by himself. He was not one bit worried. He was loving it!

Case did a super job today learning to make a "pizza slice" (aka...snow plow) with his skis. Jeremy and I had to laugh at both boys because their arms were making the "pizza slice" as their legs were supposed to be.

Looking good Brody!

What IS this???

This is Miss B.

She is charming, cute, and ridiculously stylish.

She loves to wear fancy necklaces, have her hair blow dryed and loves to show you her belly button.

She loves fruit snacks, her Binky at night time and juice boxes for lunch.

She however does NOT like her car seat.

This is a problem because I LIVE in my car.

Every time I go to put her in her car seat it is a wrestling match. The kind where I end up with a scratch on my face from razor sharp baby nails getting me. The wrestling match where I am SWEATING to death when I am done because I cannot seem to get her buckled. What is going on? Why the protest? I have NEVER had a baby boy do this? I have NEVER had a baby boy squirm his way out of a car seat while I'm truckin down Val Vista. Why? Why does she hate her car seat? Have I ruined her by letting her ride on my lap to and from church on Sundays? Does she not like leaving the house? I don't get it? The past week I have had to pull over 3 times because she has managed to get out of her car seat. Putting her back in on the side of the road is not pretty folks! It is pure exhaustion. I have tried moving her car seat to a different location in the car. I have tried letting her sit in Ledger's car seat to get a new view. I have tried snacks, drinks, candy, nothing works. She doesn't care what I have to offer. She does not want to go in that car seat OR stay in that car seat. What should I do? Any suggestions?

I have a 5 point harness car seat. Who can get out of that? You're looking at her that's who!!

Oh and don't worry peeps...I did not take these pictures while driving. I was stopped at the light as I was leaving Target.

It's Spring Break...

...and around here that means 85 degree weather and Spring Training games! Today I took the boys (sorry Miss B.) to HoHo Kam Stadium to watch the Cubs and the Reds. Since Jeremy is a Ho, we get awesome tickets and the opportunity to go to the HoHo room to eat. Of course we stopped at El Charro before the game began so we weren't hungry. We had a great time soaking up the sun and eating snow cones and frozen lemonade. It was the perfect was to start our spring break week.

Ledger trying to drink the largest lemonade in the ball park.

Case was the most interested in what was going on in the field. He asked all kinds of questions about the game.

Jeremy and Brody

Papa, Jeremy and the boys.

Compassion, Bowling and Basketball

We are in full throttle around here with Scouts! Brody earned his bowling and basketball belt loops Tuesday night at Pack Meeting because 1. He played on a basketball team and learned all about the sport and 2. He went bowling last weekend for Sugars birthday and learned the rules of the game. His den was also in charge of the flag ceremony which was a first for him. Our scouting theme for this month was Compassion. My friend and primary partner Anne's mother came to speak to us about her life in a wheel chair. When she was 19 years old she was horseback riding with some friends and was thrown off her horse. Her story was a real lesson in courage and compassion. Brody is loving scouts and can't wait to earn more awards. He is such a goal setting kid anyway so scouts is right up his alley. We'll see how we do when he's 14 and needing to earn his Eagle!

Brody's first flag ceremony.

Mike and Natalie Mason are the best den leaders. For the past 2 weeks they built bird houses with 7 eight year old boys...with nails...and hammers...and wood!! I love that they aren't afraid to do fun things with the boys.

Brody, McKay Mason, Kaden Hall, Nathan Smith and Camden Hall opening their cracker Jax boxes to see what awards they earned for the month. Leslie Smith is the Cub Committe Leader and she does a fantastic job. I love working with her.

Trike-A-Thon 2011

Today Ledger participated in a Trike-A-Thon at his awesome preschool. He was sooooo excited to take his green bike to school to help raise money for St. Jude. He loved riding up and down the street practicing all the safety tips he has been learning. Great job today Ledger man!

Practicing those safety rules!

Love that green bike Ledger. That green bike has a funny story behind it that someday I will have to share with all of you. It has something to do with a blue bike that went missing around Christmas time.

Ledger earned his drivers license for participating.

Jack Stradling, Ledger and Paige Moore waiting for their awards.

Basketball Season Is Over

Case was great at making baskets.

He looooved to dribble and strut across the court. After the game the coaches handed out awards. Case recieved the "Dribble Champion" award. Way to go Case!

Jeremy and I had to split up for most Saturday's since both

Brody and Case's games were at the same time. Below is Case's team, The Rattlesnakes. We didn't know any of the boys on the team except for Calvin Stevenson (second from the left). Case didn't mind a bit. He will make friends with anyone. Coach Lane was great and we really appreciate all his effort and hard work!

Yesterday both Brody and Case finished their basketball season. Although I was a little disappointed with the organization of the league, both boys had great coaches and learned tons. Being a Mom of boys is tough. I am finding that when it comes to sports, you have to expose your kids to all of them in order for them to be able to keep up with the kids they are playing with. Ok, I totally said that wrong. We are not trying to keep up with the other kids. What I mean is that in order for your kids to play on the teams with the other boys, they really have to play each year in different leagues. For example, this was the first year either of my boys have played basketball. Not because they haven't wanted to but because they have been involved in other things such as swim team and golf. It was obvious by the way they played compared to the other kids on their team (especially Brody). The boys on Brody's team have played before. They have attended summer camps through the high school and played in the off seasons. They are good at the game. Brody...not so much. I don't mean that mean, really, it's just that he has never played before. This was his first time EVER to play the sport. I actually kinda felt bad that I hadn't had him play before. The other boys were GOOD. They understood the game. They made baskets, they weren't afraid of the ball. The good thing about Brody is that he is happy, loves new things, he's coach able, and loves the social aspect of playing sports. I like that about him. He's not in it to win the game, he's there to have fun. I guess what worries me is that many of the other boys, and their parents aren't. They are there for the win. They want their kid to be on a team with the BEST of the BEST. It's hard to know whether to teach Brody that he needs to be more aggressive or to let him just have fun. I feel like I know the answer to that but when I'm at these games I have a different opinion. I hate that! All of this brings me to my next point. Are my kids at the age where I should be focusing them more on ONE sport and not exposing them to all the others? Should I be pushing Brody more in swimming since he is GREAT at it, or should I continue to let him try all the others. What is your opinion to all these mind boggling questions?!?!

Brody loved playing basketball this year.
Thanks to Heather for putting together this great group of boys. Coach Pierce and Coach Stradling were fantastic coaches. This is a nice group of boys!

After the game, the boys pulled out their markers and pens and had each other sign their basketballs.

To celebrate the end of the season, we headed over to the park for Popsicles, cookies and fun. This is the only picture I got.

Our cute little Super Star

This past week Ledger had the opportunity to be the Super Star of his preschool class. Can I just tell you, this kid was beyond thrilled about the week! He woke up Tuesday morning asking all kinds of questions, "How many hours will I be the super star?" "When will my family come visit?" "Is Case or Brody the super star or just me?" It was so funny. You should have seen his face light up when Jeremy and I showed him the super star poster we made for him. I think he stared at it for 30 minutes straight! Although he had a rough day at preschool (he got a little upset about a coloring activity and wanted everyone in the class to know about it!) he was excited about being the star! On Thursday, we got to go for a family visit to the preschool. We loved watching him tap each student on the head to let them know it was their turn to introduce themselves. We loved reading his Minnie Mouse book to his friends and having a tour of the school. I have said it time and time again but I love that Ledger gets to go to school with Miss Jody, Miss Ashley and Miss Tauna. They are so sweet and positive with him. After our visit on Thursday, we took Ledger and Jack Stradling to lunch at El Charro. It was hilarious watching the two of them eat and talk at the table. It was even more hilarious listening to Ledger as he tried to convince Jack to pick up his bean burro and eat it like he did. Jack wanted nothing to do with it so we cut it up in little squares like he asked. Ledger was in disbelief that Jack wouldn't listen to him! It was just a funny conversation. We love you Ledge-Man and think your a Super Star every day!

Yes we all went to celebrate the super star!

Miss B. can't wait until it's her turn to go to preschool!

I loved reading" Minnies Valentine" to the class.

Brody and Case loved getting out of school to visit their old stomping ground!

We love you Miss Jody!

Jeremy and I made this poster for Ledger. It turned out cute but what was even better then the way this poster turned out was the reaction he had when he first saw it! He was so so happy.