Loving this post today. Nie nie has a knack for writing, and for being real. I really admire her; her motherhood style, and her writing style. She isn't one of those sugar-coated-everything-is-perfect types, she doesn't take life too seriously, takes pictures of messes, says 'freaking', and she makes me laugh. I wish we were friends.

I too love being a stay at home mom, and this post nailed it for me.

sunday fun day.

today I woke up, prayed and started my fast.

we were running behind, but I was not about to miss the sacrament (and I needed that bread).

i threw my wet hair in a side bun thingy and got in the car.

kosty tried to get in but his door was locked.

i saw the church bag over on the shelf and asked him to grab it.

he didn't see it, so I got up to tell him nevermind & get it myself.

just then, he found it.

he brought it to me, and he started to close my car door, but he had lego guys in his hand.

he started to adjust them with his other hand and so I proceeded to close my door.

next thing i knew he was screaming, his finger had gotten smashed.

i grabbed him and saw how bad it looked, and rushed him in to clean it up.

i was shaking and so so angry with myself.

my poor little boy. he was trying to help me, and i smashed his finger.

is there anything worse as a parent when you accidentally hurt them? really hurt them? no. there isn't.

i felt sick to my stomach. i so wish i had a rewind button.

forget about the sacrament, he screamed and cried for 30 minutes.

we iced it, and iced it, and cleaned it.

jer kept saying it was oozing, and it made me cringe.

i asked him to stop using that word. i couldn't even look at it after he said that.

it was harder to look at because it was my fault. i caused his pain.

he was so sad, and in so much pain, but sweet and forgiving.

i sat on the couch, with a pit in my stomach, depressed as can be.

i asked brayden to try and cheer him up.

he proceeded to morph into an instant comedian and cracked kosty (and us) up for the next 15 minutes.

laughter really is the best medicine.

week in iphone pics.

I text this pic to jer when I was at the Dr with Kosty. I believe I said something like "he's never going to be able to wear sunglasses!" Kosty was born with the cutest ears ever, they look like they are pinned to his head. There is simply no space between the head and the ears. He tried and tried to get the string to stay up but those ears just made it impossible. Jer reassured me that he spent all summer in sunglasses.

The next night, I took Brayden on a date. We had dinner and ice cream sundaes and then spent an eternity at Target. After a good couple hours, I told him that we were trying to break a world record of hours spent at the beloved Bullseye. He liked that idea. I don't take him on dates enough. He is a seriously fun kid to hang out with. I sorta felt like he was 16 and it made me happy to realize that him growing up is pretty fun after all. He is just plain cool.

He wore these glasses the whole time we were there. His goal was that someone would mistake him for Justin Beiber. He even turned his 'Patterson Pride' shirt around and pushed the cart around with his chin resting on his arms. He thought that's how Justin would push a Target cart. He did get a lot of looks, but I'm pretty sure they were 'why is that kid wearing sunglasses in Target at night' looks. But he liked it anyway.

Half day lunch date at Costco. Kosty goes to school at 11:30 and Brayden gets out at 11:30 when its half day. I love having him all to myself! He said, "so this is what its like to be Kosty.."

Kosty fell asleep on the way home from his student led conferences last night. He was in his school clothes and had just eaten popcorn and an ice cream bar. Ooh, and an Airhead, yikes. I struggled with the decision of waking a sleeping bear to brush his teeth or not. I decided NOT. He woke up on the right side of the bed and in the best mood ever (for once) and he thought it was pretty cool that he was already dressed for the day. So, we went to the park before school. Second day clothes + playing in the sand = even dirtier clothes. I am learning to let go sometimes... So. He wore those clothes again to school. But he did brush his teeth and hair.

I found a fresh water bottle in the fridge this morning from Jer. He even labeled it. ♥

harry potter.

Back in the day, when Kosty was obsessed with Harry Potter, Brayden turned up his nose and declared he hated it. No reason, other than he didn't want to like the same thing as his little brother. Now, Brayden is reading the Harry Potter books. He is hooked. He reads before school, in the car, and stays up entirely too late just to get a few more pages in. Now, that Brayden is loving it, Kosty claims to no longer like Harry Potter. Its a shame they can't be into the same thing at the same time! sheesh.

sorry, but I find this picture to be hilarious! aren't they the definition of misery?

I took this picture while these two were sick with the flu two weeks ago. Then on Sunday, Brayden had a fever again and a cough. He stayed home from school on Monday and by Tuesday he was back at school and feeling good. Then on Wednesday, Kosty started coughing. He continued to get worse and even with breathing treatments every 4 hours, his little chest was thumping up and down. We couldn't get his breathing to regulate and he was coughing so hard that he was throwing up mucus. I took him in last night and the Dr decided to treat him for pneumonia and wants us to confirm with a chest xray.

Anyway, I am so so grateful to be a stay at home mom, once again. And to not have to worry about "calling in sick" everytime my kids get sick. I get it, I am sooo not ready for a job.

♥ valentines day ♥

Our Valentine's tradition just like most of our traditions, is basically about food & not much else. We never ever go on a Valentine's date. I always get Jer an assortment of his favorite candy bars, and in lieu of roses I always request something more practical like good shampoo. I'm tellin ya, we go big around here. Romantics of the year.

We had our Valentines day breakfast complete with waffles, homemade whipped cream & strawberries (jer's request) and crepes (boys request), {burnt} bacon, and orange juice. I also promised hash brown casserole, but I ran out of time, and it was missed. I always set out little goodie love bags for the boys the morning of. Oh, and Brayden woke me up early to ask what he should wear for the day of love. I said, "whatever you want!" and he answered, "maybe my nice red shirt with buttons." Awe. Awe. Awe. and Awe. Love him. Kosty also sported a red shirt with buttons (because its his school uniform).

After dinner, I wanted to make a dessert we normally don't have, so a new tradition might have been born. Of course its a food tradition, what else? Chocolate fondue. The boys were really excited to stick all sorts of goodies on skewers. And I was proud to dust off the ol' fondue set for the very first time that my mom gave me roughly 5 years ago. Thanks mom!

this was the real picture before the retake. that hurt my neck actually. and that is really what my kitchen looks like after I cook dinner. and those are really plastic ikea bowls. We are sooo fancy.

We played some family games and then we were delightfully surprised when Grandma and Grandpa showed up unexpectedly with Valentine gifts and hugs for the boys. They really are the sweetest.