weekend highlights

birthday lunch with jenna and braxton...

...then finding this gem at Savers. This adorable {30+ years OLD} Fisher Price wind up record player. I had to have it. And the boys LOVE it, they took it everywhere we went this weekend. {Once upon a time I often teased my step mom for shopping thrift stores, well now its one of my favorite things to do... just not the one in downtown mesa, that one stinks real bad}. Its like a treasure hunt, you never know what you will find! For now, Kosty is my trusty thrift shopper partner in crime. He loves it.

A healthy dinner at Mickey D's and Bahama Bucks

oh, getting my hair chopped off for the first time in 6 years. Poor Crystal, I was not a very confident client that day...at first I said just chop my bangs again (after finally growing them out!) I love/hate bangs. Then I told her, skip the bangs, just chop my hair...and finally I made up my dang mind. I know it doesn't look like a big change, but it feels so different washing this short hair in the shower and putting it in a ponytail is pretty strange too.And last but not least...the boys decorating their faces right before church. (side note: "washable" markers wipe right off of surfaces, yes, but not right off of faces). Kosty's came off pretty good, but his hair was green from Brayden rubbing his face in it. Brayden was still very green when we went to church, even after nearly rubbing his skin off with a soapy washcloth.

hair woes

Obviously, I have boys. Boyish, boy-ey BOYS. I shouldn't have to worry about hair requests from them yet. Why should they care?While staring at his Nursery graduation picture for some time, Kosty announced, "my haiw looks weird. I need to go to the haiwcut store." Break my heart! I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on this one, it was due for a trim. Nothing crazy. But, when we pressed him on the issue, he revealed that he wants his hair short like Brayden's. Sorry Kosty. You win some, you lose some. {He did seem satisfied with his trim, FYI}.

Moving on...After studying this above picture for a while, Brayden announced that he would like his hair "long like this. So it will be soft and shiny, and I can rub it." He does always rub Kosty's hair. Sorry Bubba, but we've been there, done that, tried to grow it last summer and it just never looked right!
This is the growing out stage from summer. I wasn't a fan. I so prefer his short! But I'm torn with his new determination... What do you think, should I give into this little boy's desires to have soft, rubbable hair? Should I give it another go? for him?

mallrats

another saturday without Jer. Not too fond of his open house days. But this time instead of legomania, we did our chores, got dressed, and took Brayden's coin jar to Coinstar at Bashas. He's been collecting/accepting donations since Christmas, and he ended up with $16.

The first thing he did with his money was buy his little brother a donut. He really, really wanted one. I said no. Brayden said, "I'll buy you one Kosty! Which one do you want?" Proud Mama moment. I'm so glad he didn't even hesitate.

Kosty really enojoyed his donut. Polished off every last crumb.

Then we were off to the mall...we had a coupon for $15 off a Build A Bear, so of course that is what Brayden wanted to spend his money on. Oh boy, it was a very loooong line. He is now the proud owner of an adorable Jack Russell Terrier, named Jack.

Kosty wanted something too. It was only fair. He doesn't quite understand why he doesn't have his own money too. He always says, "but I jus have free (3) dollars!" After begging for a Build a Bear, then a Webkinz, he finally decided on this little "Widget" guy.We had lunch at Subway. Let me rephrase that...Brayden had Subway, Kosty had Hot Dog on a Stick, and I had Rubio's. At least they were all in a row in the food court.

Of course we had to play at Pottery Barn Kids, the playground, see the real puppies, check out the new Lego store (awesome), and after it was all said and done, we had been there 4.5 hours. The majority of our time was spent at Build a Bear. When we were leaving, Brayden said, "Mama lets go in one of YOUR stores now, you deserve it!"

*all pics taken with my phone, thus explains the clarity.

legomania

I'm afraid I've reached a new chapter in motherhood.

*I don't have any more night time wake-ups, no carrier to lug around, no spit up on my shoulder, no baby on my tired hip at all times, no diaper blow-outs...both my kids walk, and they talk. There are no bottles to clean, breast pumps to be used or frequent doctor appointments. But I have to say this might be my most frustrating chapter to date...Legos.

...and my boys love 'em.

Yesterday, Jer had to work. Brayden and I started building his Batman & Indiana Jones Lego sets at about noon. We finally finished at 6 pm. Six hours of building these things. Only to find out we were missing the most important part of the I.J. set...the rolling boulder contraption. Oh boy. My neck aches, my fingers are tired, my brain hurts, my house didn't get cleaned, my errands didn't get run, I stayed in my pjs from dawn to dusk, but dangit, we finished what we started. I was so proud of Brayden, never once did he complain, and he was so committed to this project! and what a project it turned out to be. 4,768 teeny tiny Lego's, and 150 (for real) pages of directions later. I had NO idea. It was addicting in a weird way, I got into it and I just couldn't wait to get it done. I watched in amazement as Brayden was able to follow the directions precisely, find the exact Lego's out of the pile that he needed for each very specific step, and his cute little fingers that put every piece just where it was supposed to go. He was as good if not better than I, but I'm 4x his age! I was frustrated to {almost} tears at some points...I mean, after we would build an entire section and attempt to put on the last piece, the whole thing would crumble. I had to practice an intense amount of self control because heaven knows all I wanted to do was scream, cry, and stomp all over it. Not to mention the little airplanes and rockets that Kosty adored, they would crumble while he was "flying" them ever so gently around the house.





Silly me. I thought Lego's were something you put together, took apart, put together again...oh no. Not in this house. We are putting this thing high on a shelf when its not being played with and considering getting it bronzed ;) At least Brayden and Kosty love it and played with it the rest of the night, what a relief.* please remind me about my lego extravaganza if/when I am in the midst of that hard baby stage again. Thanks.

the pledge

• Don't spend money for one day.
• Don't use credit cards for one week.
• Don't eat at restaurants for one month.

Anyone catch Oprah today? who's up for Suze Orman's pledge? Everyone in the audience was so dramatic when she said the no restaurant thing... I thought it was funny. I'm not a big restaurant eater, and I can thank my boys for nipping any restaurant splurging in the bud. Eating out with kids is NO fun. I think it sounds very much like my lifestyle already... I do a lot of staying home so no spending on many days, I HATE credit cards, and restaurants are a thing of the past! She also insists everyone have at least 8 months of savings to cover expenses because chances are your husband will lose his job at some point....if it costs you $5,000 a month to live that is $40,000 for your savings that cannot be touched! Then she said, "2009 is the year that will either make you or break you." Yikes! Hopefully we can achieve our financial goals this year! that means no debt, 8 months of savings, a regular savings, college funds for our kids, a retirement plan??? eeeek, we have no retirement at all. Sounds real easy Suze!

New Years

Oh boy, New Years made me feel like a kid again. For the first time in our married lives, we actually stayed out and partied past midnight, without the chitlens!! Thanks to Chuck and Susan who entertained our boys all night long. We started the night with Valkyrie, the movie, with a group of friends. Great movie, very depressing ending. Luckily we went straight to dinner afterwards with the Lee's and got our minds off of it quick. We went to Outback and had a very leisurely stay, thanks to out pokey waiter. Then we went to a little party and played a game and toasted at midnight with some Martinelli's. It felt great to be a teenager again!

The kids sure didn't suffer. Chuck, Susan, and Cede took them to see Desperaux, to dinner at In N Out, and then they played games until midnight when they went outside to watch their neighbor's fireworks show & bang on pots and pans. Grandpa said it was the best New Year's he's had in years. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!(Aunt Cede and Brayden in their unintentionally matching shirts, Brayden was less than thrilled.)

I just got done reading my step sister Jaime's blog about how we all make resolutions for our spouses, I have to say majorly GUILTY to that one! My number one goal(s) for my honey is to quit drinking soda and to be NEATER. I often give him a hard time because our bedroom is so clean minus his side of the bed, his nightstand, his side of the dresser, bathroom, and closet!! And I am so stubborn, that I just clean "my side" and leave his for him to do. Sometimes I even make just my side of the bed, how awesome am I? haha. After 8 years of working on him, I don't think much has changed in that area. He is doing really good with the no soda though, and anyone that knows Jer, knows how much he loves his Coke. He's gone 2 full days without it, that's HUGE for him! Now that I think of it, he didn't make any resolutions for me, see, he's too nice. I think I'll ask him to make me some, its only fair ;)

I do make them for myself though. I am committing to hitting the gym 3x a week...yoga once a week is all I've been doing for a while now. I suck at cardio in a big way. The other day I had to stop & slow it waaaay down after less than 5 minutes, pathetic! I just don't think my body is designed for it, could that be possible? ;) I wish. Also committing to finishing my Blurb book in the next month for all of 2008, reading my scriptures more often and more thoroughly, putting more into my calling, and more into FHE. Oh, after almost 8 years of teaching the 13 year olds Sunday School, Jer and I finally got released and put into the Sunbeams, with Kosty as one of our students. I'm excited for a new change, but will miss Relief Society. I think I am most excited about the adorable three year olds, who couldn't love em, and that we are switching from one degree of immaturity to another. Three year olds are allowed to be immature though. We have such a cute class. I think that's it for now, Happy 2009 everyone!!

Christmas!

Christmas Eve was spent at my Mom & Clay's house in Mesa. My step dad has 4 kids also, so its always a big, fun gathering. My mom made spinach and cheddar stuffed pork roast, potatoes au gratin, homemade mac and cheese, salad, and homemade chocolate cake and banana pudding for dessert. I wish I had a pic of everyone. We played white elephant, and opened presents. Thanks Meem!

(Jer gettting his baby fix with Elliot & Cami's handsome baby boy)

Then we went and looked at lights, there were so many awesome houses between my mom's house and ours, so it worked out wonderfully! Kosty was so tired and tried so hard to fall asleep on the way home, but his mean Mom made sure he didn't. I couldn't bear for him to miss out on the fun.

Then it was home for baking chocolate chip cookies for Santa, sprinkling reindeer food on the grass, baths, jammies, and a Santa Claus book. Then we hurried the kids to bed when we heard the sleigh bells.

Christmas morning started at 4:15 am. Yes, 4:15 am. Kosty came into our room because he needed a drink. 5 minutes later, Brayden crawls in our bed and tells us Santa didn't miss our house, then he started to go back to sleep, but since we were all wide awake, and I was way too excited to go back to sleep, I suggested we go start opening presents. Brayden said, "but its still dark outside!" they were thrilled and we all rushed out to the family room. There is nothing more exciting than Christmas morning!Kosty's (Harry Potter) golden snitch!

Kosty's favorite gift hands down, was this $10 Play Doh Ice Cream Shop. He played with it ALL DAY LONG!

Brayden was pretty excited about his Fun Slides Carpet Skates!

We hardly saw Brayden's face from this point on, the kid LOVED his new camera, & by the end of the day, he had 367 pictures on it!

After opening all the fussy packaging, installing batteries, and reading directions, they played their little hearts out for about 3 hours, and then we all loaded up in our pj's over to Grandma & Grandpa's (Jer's parents) house. Where we were all spoiled with gifts, Susan's delicious breakfast, and NAPS for Mom and Dad. Well deserved.They loved their Webkinz!

"YAY! TOOLS!!" Kosty said.

After Kosty opened his, he stacked them up and started heading to the family room to play!

Grandpa and Kosty buliding a "cwubhouse."

He wasn't that impressed with the end result! He kept saying, "but how do you make a door?"

Then after we got ready, we went over to my Dad and Maria's house. Yes, people, we have three stops! Thank heavens Jer's parents are still married or I might just give up ;) Luckily my mom does hers Christmas Eve. We ate dinner, opened more presents, and played another vicious game of white elephant. Is it just me or does that game bring out the worst in people?! Unless its gag gifts, which we are implementing next year FOR SURE! Kosty was still in his pj's that night. He ended up falling asleep on the floor at Jer's parents house watching Harry Potter, and then he slept through the transfers & car ride & noise at my Dad's, he ended up taking almost a 4 hour nap.Sisters (a.k.a. Mustard Sandwich)
(My baby sister Stefanie, my half sister Erika, my older pregnant sister Brittney, and me)Its crazy how many presents accumulate by the end of the day! I better not hear the word "bored" for the next year. It was such a wonderful Christmas, I am so sad its over!