Funny Flashback Friday

After the past week or so, I needed a laugh so I thought I would do a funny Flashback Friday. I went through and found some old pictures that made me laugh out loud, either because they were so funny or so cute you couldn't help but smile.

This first one is of Noah when he was about 3 1/2 years old. I laugh every time I see this one. I had peeked in to make sure he had fallen asleep at nap time. Not only was he asleep but he fell asleep with two Little People peeking out of his underwear. I'm not sure what kind of game he was playing with them.

This was taken when Drew was 2. His swimming trunks kept drooping so I tugged them down a bit more and had him pose. He thought it was pretty funny.

This is Aiden at 4 months. (Feb 2005) He loved taking his baths in the kitchen sink. Uncle Scott must have liked this picture too because he used it in one of his ads for his Day Spa.

This is Noah when he was about 6 months old. I guess we liked bathing all of the kids in the kitchen sink. It was certainly easier than bending over the bathtub.

For mom's birthday back in August of 2005 I made a scrapbook of favorite recipes for her gift. I included some pictures of Drew and Noah "baking". We put flour on their face and gave them bowls and spoons and I took some action shots to put in the book. For some reason, Noah decided to lean over and lick flour off of Drew's face and I caught it on film.

Living in a house full of males, my boys don't often get the chance to play with "girly" stuff like pink, princess, dresses, jewelry. So they can't help themselves when they are at a friends house that has girly things. Yes, my boys like to cross dress sometimes. I caught Drew in the act, or should I say "Princess Drew".
April 2005 Will someone get that kid out of the sink?? He's growing old in there!

We went to Disney World in June of 2004. We were being silly trying on things in one of the stores and I got such a kick out of Noah wearing the Eeyore ears. He makes the cutest little Eeyore doesn't he?? It looks like my dad is choking on the fluff of black hair on top of Eeyore's head.

I have to finish this off with a really cute video. For those of you that don't know, my nephew Ty was born just 4 days after Aiden. This video was taken the first time we got the two cousins together after their birth. Aiden must have been hungry because he started rooting around and trying to latch onto Tyler. Cousinly love.

Thanks for flashing back with me. My kids never fail to entertain me and I hope they managed to at least bring a smile to your face today too.

Happy Day

I have quite a few reasons to be happy today:

1. Everyone woke up healthy this morning. Let's hope it stays that way!!

2. The sun is shining! We haven't seen the sun much in recent months.

3. Our new kitty is finally coming out of his shell. He let Todd and I pet him for a long time last night, I even snuck in some kisses. To make my night complete, he came in and slept with us, cuddled up by my legs. I was in heaven. This morning he let Drew pet him a couple of times.

4. I got my brand new Creating Keepsakes magazine in the mail today. I'm going to dive into it while Aiden is napping.

Why?

Why do kids feel the need to come in your room in the middle of the night to tell you they are going to throw up instead of just running directly there?? The odds of making the toilet are much higher if you make it a straight shot. Drew came in to inform us last night of the impending doom so I said "Go to the bathroom". Seemed logical to me. Did he make it?? Let's say the hallway carpet got a nice shampooing at 3am. Thank God for owning a carpet shampooer!! We may have some of the cleanest carpets in town this week!!

Won't you all be happy when I have something to blog about besides vomit?? Unfortunately, that has been the story of my life for the past week and a half.

I can't wait to go to sleep tonight.

A Night In The Life............

*this may not be for the weak at heart*

How many people can really remember what they did every hour of the night while they were sleeping?? Not many, but I'm lucky enough to remember every detail of my night last night.

11:00 pm I turn out the light and go to sleep.
11:52 pm Aiden wakes up crying and I can not get him calmed down. I give up and Todd takes a turn, finally getting him to go back to sleep.
12:55 am Todd is shampooing Noah's carpet and changing his sheets since he threw up everywhere. Bless his heart for doing that, he knew I'd had enough of it with Aiden this week.
2:15 am Noah is up with diarrhea. Nice.
2:46 am I am up investigating sounds in Aiden's room. Something keeps knocking against the walls. I'm suspecting the cat got in there and is playing with the toys. I can't see squat in the dark with no glasses on, I figured he ran out while I was searching blindly in the darkness.
3:15 am Noah is up again to go to the bathroom, needs new underwear and pj bottoms.
4:00 am Aiden wakes up crying. I go in and the cat is sleeping at the end of Aiden's bed and lets me pet him. What the hell?? That NEVER happens. I discover Aiden has a dirty diaper and it leaked onto his sheets. Todd comes in to help and the two of us get him all cleaned up and ready to go back to bed. I love that we can share all of these special moments together.
4:10 am Aiden comes back in our room and asks me to tuck him in again. Didn't I just do that 45 seconds ago??
4:15 am Aiden comes back in our room. Todd threatens to take away his Barney and Magenta dolls if he doesn't stay in bed. Todd wants to go sleep in Drew's room as he is the only one getting sleep tonight.
4:45 am We finally drift off to some blissful sleep for TWO whole hours.
6:45 am Aiden comes in and wants us to get up.

So here we are in the morning. Noah says his tummy is fine and wanted breakfast. Let's see how that works out. He has a nasty sounding phlegmy cough that I worry will make him gag and get sick. UGH. Spring, my lovely beautiful spring, where are you?? This germ phobe has had it with winter and sickness. Wishing you all a healthy week!!!

Flashback Friday

I don't know how long this will be as I have a two year old laying here watching a movie and drinking Pedialite, a puker's drink of choice. We're on Day 5 of this. Anyone want to come and cart me off to the looney bin? I think I really will lose my marbles if this goes on much longer.

Anyway, enough about that....it's flashback friday y'all! Since my Aunt Cindy is such a big fan, these first two pictures are for her. The top on is of my cousins Adam and Cody with my baby bro Nate in the middle. How cute are they?? And the one underneath is their baby brother Eric, adorable little guy. I used to babysit them when they were younger and got such a kick out of them. They are still cute but they are in their 20's now which makes me feel old.

My big guy is turning 9 next month which is really hard for me to believe. It will be our last year of the single digits. Yikes. So I was sitting here looking through some of his baby pictures and found some cute ones. I guess he liked the hammock!! He still does I guess, in the summer he'll lay on it and read a book.
Wearing his shades.

Sometimes ya gotta get a little crazy on the changing table.

An oldie but goodie, he just looks so stinkin' cute in that hat!! (even if it IS too big for his head)

I hope everybody has a fun, HEALTHY weekend!!

I'm Losing My Marbles.....

No, really. I'm losing my marbles. We had 3 of them sitting here on the computer desk for a craft we are making with Noah for school. The cat took it upon himself during the night to take them and bat them around the basement. I happened to find him attacking one this morning otherwise I wouldn't have known they were missing. This cat is an enigma to me. He comes up to you and meows but if you so much as make a move towards him, he runs away. He comes out at night, we now know that now. He's unwrapped and eaten part of a Valentine's cookie, unwrapped some leftover breadsticks, played with some silverware left in the sink, and now the marbles. During the day, he pretty much hides out, with the occasional jaunt out and about the house. He sticks his tongue out a lot, I don't know if he's getting sassy or if he just likes to let it all hang out. He's slowly coming around though and coming out with us more and more, I'm just hoping soon he'll let us hold and cuddle him. That's what I want the most.
***Marble Update*** I found the marbles and put them back on the computer desk. I then took the boys to school. I just got home and was making my coffee and I kept hearing a clanking sound in the basement. Turns out Grayson was hitting marbles against the wall. Apparently my cat is smarter than me. Not good.

How Rich Are You?

Wow, this website really puts it into perspectice. Check it out.

http://www.globalrichlist.com/

My Date With Two Good Looking Guys

How did I get lucky enough to go on a date with TWO good looking guys and have my husband at home happy about it?? Last night was Mother/Son Date Night again. Drew, Noah and I went last year and had a blast. It's put on through the Park District and was held at Tony's Old Place again. Since Aiden isn't old enough to go yet, he had some special time at home with daddy but I got to take Drew and Noah. Johnna and Ben met us there too and we had a good time. (Erica and Hayden were supposed to come too but the little guy got sick)

Like last year, I got a corsage and then we got to have our picture taken together. This was the one we had done last night.

The food was wonderful again and they had a lot of great prizes. They always have enough so that all the kids win something. Drew was happy to win a free pass to the movies. Noah was so happy to just win, he had no idea what he won. Johnna and I were cracking up because he won a $10 gift certificate to Elder's. The Quincy people will get why that is a funny thing for a 6 year old to win. My boys have never even been there before but it looks like they will now. Noah and Ben had so much fun dancing, they were cracking us up. I have to post a couple of videos of Noah on the dance floor. Every now and then Ben comes into it too. I've seen them quite a few times and I still laugh my butt off. He's quite the entertainer. Drew unfortunately wouldn't dance, I think he thought he was too old and cool for it but by the end of the night he was out there doing cartwheels, so I guess he came out of his shell! (The videos are a little dark, but you can still see Noah dance!)

Here are a couple of pics from the night.

Me and my big guy.The dancin' fool.

Meet Grayson

The elusive Grayson has come out of hiding. It took him a couple of days to get used to the house and us. Aiden turned into the Tasmanian Devil every time Grayson attempted to come out of hiding. Poor kitty. He finally let me cuddle him and Todd got to also. I think he knows we are here to love him not terrorize him. Now if we could only convince Aiden of that! He is such a doll and so soft. I just loved every minute of cuddling with him earlier. I need to get him to come sleep with me at night. I miss having a warm furball to cuddle up with. Yes, I realize Todd is warm and hairy too, and he'll do, but a cat doesn't take up as much room and doesn't snore.

Grayson is enjoying some cat toys we bought him today.

The Storyteller

Aiden says to me "Mom, I tell you a story" He then leans in really close and whispers in my ear, "I love you". I told him that was the best story I've ever heard!

Flashback Friday!

Since yesterday was Valentine's Day, today I'm flashing back on pictures of my sweetie from when we were dating and first married. You know, I really don't feel like I've aged much but then when I go back and look at these pictures, I realize we look like little kids. It's hard to believe we've been together 15 of our 35 years.

This was taken on Christmas Eve of 1993, our first Christmas together. We were only 21. Ahhh, young love.

This was one of many pictures we took of ourselves. We got really good at just holding the camera out and taking our picture. We actually have a whole album of us with these kinds of pictures. Thank goodness Todd had a long arm and good aim! This was taken in Hannibal on Todd's birthday in 1994. We went down there and hit Mark Twain Cave, Sawyer's Creek, ate out and had a good time. This was always one of my favorite pictures.

This of course was our college graduation in 1995. It happened to fall on Mother's Day so afterwards we went with our families to The Plaza for lunch. Just a 4 months till our wedding day!!

This was our first New Year's Eve after we were married in 1995. We went to a party at Dan and Gail's house with our friends.

This was in early 1996 sometime, I forgot to look up the date. But we were at a brunch in Chicago with all of my family. Shortly after leaving here I got extremely ill, I think it must have been food poisoning because I felt fine before I ate!
I love ya sweetie. We've had many wonderful Valentine's Days together and I look forward to many more. What a journey we've been on so far and I know it will only get better. We have these 3 beautiful boys to raise together. Who would have thought back in these pictures that one day we would be so blessed??

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was pretty nice. Aiden and I went to his music class and they hit the grocery store to buy food for a special supper. In the afternoon I had to go to my gynecologist appointment. Nothing says love on Valentine's Day like a good ole pelvic exam. He also informed me that I'm old enough now that I should think about getting my first mammogram in the next year or two. Huh? What? I'm getting old?
The highlight of our day was getting to pick up our new baby Grayson!! We had picked him out at the animal shelter the day before.....he is a solid gray male cat and he's about 8-9 months old. He is soooo soft and pretty and I just fell in love with him. Yesterday he got fixed, shots, and a checkup so he should be good to go (depending on what we do about the claws!) He was a little groggy for awhile and didn't want to do much when we home but by the end of the night he was jumping around and playing with a cat toy that Todd rigged up. The boys got a kick out of that!! He's still adjusting and a little timid about coming to us but I know once he gets familiar with us and the house that will change and he will be the lovey little guy I snuggled with at the shelter.
The only downer on our day was that our niece Ellie had to go into the hospital for RSV. She's only about 5 weeks and any baby under 3 months has to go in as a precaution. It was probably a good thing because Matt and Beth said she was looking a lot better after being put on the oxygen. I went up and visited for about an hour last night. I just needed to see her with my own eyes, and let me tell you, she's beautiful even hooked up to all those wires! Blake and Ty have been sick with pneumonia so poor Matt and Beth have had a long week or so. It's tough when all that hits at once. You kinda just have to suffer through it and watch for that light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully they're almost out of it!!

The day ended on a high note. When tucking in Drew, I remembered that I hadn't looked at his midterm grades yet. I was so excited....Straight A's!!! At the end of last quarter, he had all A's and 2 B's which is still awesome. I was just so impressed that he had raised those to all A's. Good going Drew....we are so proud of you!

Got a great Flashback Friday planned for today, but got to feed the little guys breakfast first. No school today so I may have trouble sitting down to do it!!

My New Kitchen

This was taken from the dining room.

Taken from the dining room also. See the candle lit on the counter for ambiance?? I did it for you guys. I'm thoughtful like that. ;)

Taken from the living room entry.

We ordered some really cool track lighting to go above the bar/sink area and still have to put the wood trim around the bottoms of the cabinets there along the floor. We also have to put the handles on the cabinets and finish the area on the floor that connects the kitchen to the dining room. Then we are done. And lucky for me, none of those jobs are mine! This all started out with getting new cabinets but I have to say my very favorite part is the bar area. We have talked for years about knocking the wall down between the kitchen and dining room to open things up but it always seemed like a dream. I love it and have a kitchen that makes me happy whenever I'm in it!

I have to add these pictures. I've always wanted coffe pics hanging in my kitchen and I found these cute ones at Kohl's. I love them!

Yes, I see the scratch on the wall. We have some touch ups to do from putting in the cabinets. But aren't those coffee mugs adorable?? :)

Sleep Baby Sleep

Every night before I go to bed, I always go into the boys' rooms to check on them, to make sure they're covered and all tucked in. Just looking at them sleeping peacefully makes my heart melt and I know all is right with the world. I can go to bed happy.

I've always wanted to take pictures of them sleeping so last night I decided to do it. I was giggling to myself as I did it though because I was trying to picture what their faces would look like if they woke up and saw me straddling their bed with a flash going off in their faces.

Hair Obsession

Many of you know about Aiden's obsession with my hair. It's like his security blanket. If he's near me, he has to be holding it. If he's drinking out of his sippy cup, he has to have his cup in one hand and mommy hair in the other. In some ways it's sweet and endearing and I like that I can be a source of comfort for him. But in a lot of ways, it annoys the hell out of me!! Oftentimes, he messes the heck out of it, other times it gets pulled a little too hard. He's like a drug addict if he can't get enough of it and when I tuck him in at naptimes and bedtimes he has to fondle it with both hands and get his "fix". I'm trying to gently break him of it because I'm so over it. But this won't be easy. Today at naptime, we were reading our books and he kept asking for my hair. I'd reply "No thank you" and release his hand from my hair. He was getting a little frustrated but said ok and settled back in my lap to read. He then tried sneaking the hand up one more time and once again I asked him nicely to leave my hair alone. In desperation he says "but mommy, I looove your hair". I told him I understood but it was getting annoying to me and I really didn't want him holding it. He gets the cutest look on his face and says "I want to hold mommy hair ALL the time" The way he said it was too cute for words and I just laughed and laughed. He got a big grin on his face and asked "Mommy, what's funny?" I just hugged him tight. He hugged me back and said "I love you mommy". I was THIS close to giving him my hair back!

Noah's Rap

Grandma Tunie and Grandpa Ken gave the boys their Valentine's early since they were leaving for Florida Saturday morning. One of the things Noah received were those little decorative things that you can put on your Crocs. He put them on his shoes and wore them out yesterday. Todd said when they were driving home in the van Noah sings out "My feet are itchin' and my shoes are bitchin'." Todd explained to him that 'bitchin' was a bad word and Noah said, "It is??" I have no idea where he learned that word since Todd and I rarely use the adjective 'bitchin' to describe things but apparently he heard it somewhere. On a positive note, my kid knows how to rhyme!

THINGS I NEVER GET TIRED OF DOING....

My new bloggy friend Amy posted this list on her blog so I decided to give it a try too.

10 Things I Never Get Tired of Doing.....

1. cuddling with my boys
2. drinking coffee
3. spending time with best girlfriend, Dianna
4. reading my books or magazines (whenever I can find the time)
5. spending time in the Rocky Mountains with my family.
6. having time with Todd in the evenings after the boys go to bed
7. watching my favorite TV shows or movies
8. listening to my favorite music
9. sitting in front of my computer
10. keeping in touch with my family and friends

Flashback Friday

This week we're flashing waaaay back. I actually had to scan in these pictures, they are so old. Yep, we are going back to the 80's folks. Back before I had cute kids and nephews and a niece to drool over, I had a baby brother that I thought was the cutest thing on earth. Being almost 13 when he was born, I was old enough to get to do a lot of fun things with him. In high school, I had pictures of him plastering my locker. Look at that sweet face, can you believe he's 22 now?? (those tube socks rule!)

This is a picture of my other bro. We're only 5 years apart so I don't remember as much of his baby days, just that I was soo excited to have a baby brother. We fought a lot but have great memories too. This picture was from the year when we were both in the spring show together. I thought it was so cool that he got to be in a high school variety show with me when he was still in grade school. He got to play in a drum group with his big cousin Rob. (I think Matt thought he was pretty big stuff too!) Yes, I had big 80's hair......shup. I thought it was cool back then.

This next one is for you Dianna!! We're the 80's Ladies!! (you had to be there!) Remember our New Kids on the Block Days?? You know, they are back together again, didn't you?? I have no idea what the hell they are calling themselves now but I hope they changed their name a bit.
Well I need to stop reminiscing and get ready for the day. Aiden and I are going to the Valentine party at the library. We were supposed to meet Beth with Ty and Ellie there but poor Blake got sick yesterday with a fever and cough. Poor buddy, what a rotten way to spend your birthday. So we'll miss them there. (Get better Blake!) Then we are meeting Grandpa Ken for lunch. While Aiden naps, I have to get packed up and get my food made for my overnight scrapbooking retreat tonight with the girls. I'm so excited! 24 hours of creative fun with the girls. Woohoo. Have a great weekend everyone!

Soccer and Basketball.

Drew's soccer team kicked butt tonight. They are really rocking this session. They won tonights game 12-0 and have now won 3 games in a row. They have been so exciting too, I love it! Drew can really play and has been using some fancy moves lately so you can tell he's getting more comfortable with the ball.

Here's a video from Drew's last basketball game. It was his first season playing and he really learned a lot. He gets so excited when he gets the ball though. He hauls ass down the court and then throws the ball as hard as possible. He needs to tone down just a bit.

In this video, he is in a purple jersey, number 30. He's coming down the court with the ball, shoots and misses but then catches the rebound and shoots again. He comes close to making it but no such luck.

Question

I know it's bad luck for 7 years if you break a mirror, but what happens when you break one of your crystal wine glasses from the set of TWO that you and your DEAREST had your toast with on your WEDDING DAY??!

I was cleaning out our china hutch and one fell out when our wedding album tipped over on it and the glass shattered all over the floor. Todd asked if I was trying to tell him something. I feel awful. I hope I didn't just jinx myself.

My Brown Eyed Boy

I really wanted a cute picture of Aiden on the stairs but it was hard to get him to stop being silly. This was my best shot. Of course I think it's completely adorable, just not the pose I was going for.

Then he realized he could see his reflection of himself across the room in the bathroom mirror and kept making silly faces at himself. Good look kiddo.

I Love A Great Quote!

"Most Folk Are About As Happy As They Make Up Their Minds To Be" ---Abraham Lincoln

Wow, that one really struck me. One thing I've come to realize lately is that the aspects of my life that I am unhappy with has to do more with my attitude towards it rather than any outside source causing it. It is up to ME to make myself happy, not anyone or anything else. Trying to change your attitude about certain things can be damn near impossible when you've spent 35 years of your life thinking and acting certain ways. Here and there I see little snippets of how happy I could be if I really wholeheartedly changed some things about myself. But more often than not, I get so discouraged at how slow and difficult the process actually is.

Yep, I've Still Got It ;)

I can still turn the guys' heads. So what if it happens to be my 2 year old's little blonde head?? This afternoon he cuddled up to me and said "Hey Mommy, you're cute!". It works for me.

Flashback Friday

I've been wanting to do this for awhile but never got around to it. I thought each Friday I'd look back on some older memories that I don't want to forget. I always love to reminisce and look at old pictures. I've just bought a 2gb flash drive to put all of my pictures on so I can delete the 4 years worth of pictures that I currently have on my computer. So this is a good a time as any to do my Friday Flashback. These were all taken in March and April of 2004----back when it was Life With 2 Boys. The last picture is Blake's first Easter. Where did the time go?

Sorry, I thought I was done and then I found more cuteness! I need to stop. This is from June of 2004.