kosty

This morning, our conversation went like this:

Me: "Kosty, lets do something fun today, let's go somewhere."

Kosty: "YEAH!!"

Me: "Lets go to the really cool kids haircut store, and then go to lunch!"

Kosty: "Um, no fanks. Today is a HOME day."

handmade

Brayden came home from school with this adorable beanie a while back. I love it so much, and so does he. He treasures it, and wears it all the time. I couldn't pay him to wear beanies hardly ever before. This one, he just puts on and leaves on. He told me a teacher named Mrs. Patterson, who is "really, really old" made it for him and for the whole class. I found out later that she actually made them for every Kindergartner in the school, and she sewed little name tags on the inside. What a wonderful lady.

oh funny

Brayden has been known to do some pretty questionable things such as:

1. Eat a spoonful of mayonnaise. GAG.
2. Drink olive juice from an olive can.

When he asked for the can, I said, "ewwww! where did you come from, child?"

his response:

"Gross Heaven."

waaaaa. :(

that's all I can title this post. It makes me want to cry like a baby.

Brayden: "are you going to be my son's grandma??"
Me: "Yes!"
Bray: squeezing me really tight..."but I don't want you to be a grandma."
Me: "I promise I'll be the best grandma. And you will get to see me a lot when you bring them to visit."
Brayden: "but I don't want you to be old. Will you be nice like grandma?"
Me: "yes."
Bray: to Jer, "you'll be a nice grandpa too. But I'll miss your funny things." :(
Jer: "I can still be a funny grandpa!"

This brought tears to my eyes. He is starting to think ahead, and I don't even want to think one day ahead. I don't want to think about the day when my kids are all grown up and moved out. I don't want to think about my kids not being kids anymore.

Then we had another conversation on the way home from Grandma's.

Bray: "what will happen when Zach and Cede get a wife and move out? I'll have no one to play with anymore at Grandma's."
Me: "well, they will bring their wife/husband to Grandma's. Then someday they will have kids and you will be the cool big cousin."
Bray: "I hope Cede has a boy. I really want a boy to play with."

I often bring it up to Jer that it will be so weird when Zach and Cede are grown and moved out. I know they are grown, but they are still young and entertain these boys all the time. When Jer and I got married, Zach was 8 and Cede was 10. I have watched them grow up. They feel like my own siblings. Brayden and Kosty have always had playmates. I get so sad everytime I think about life changing and everyone growing up and things being different. I feel like these are the best years of my life, and I just want to push pause!

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.