Brenden's Annual Birthday Video for Tim

Happy Birthday Daddy!

(FYI: It gets a little loud. He is very much a 4 year old boy.)

You can find last year's video here. :)

Happy Birthday, Tim!

A very Happy Birthday to the most wonderful, caring, understanding, loving, supportive, and, oh yeah, totally hot, husband I could have ever dreamed of choosing me.

We love you, Tim!

(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday

When did this tiny baby...

This small bundle of joy...

Become this beautiful little girl???

 

First Soccer Game (AKA: DISASTER)

You know those days when everyone wakes up happy and everything is sunshine and rainbows and oh-my-gosh-this-is-why-I-had-children? Today was not one of those days.

Having to set an alarm on a Saturday morning is never fun, but we didn't think we would need it. Brenden is usually up long before 7 am, which would have been just fine today. Oh no...not this morning. We had to open his door and make a ton of noise to finally wake him up closer to 7:30 am. (Yes, I know that is a weird way to wake him up. However, we've found it to be much easier than actually going in there and getting him up. No idea why.) We begged Brenden to eat a granola bar, shoved a banana at Lauren, grabbed our coffees, and headed out the door for Brenden's first soccer game.

I knew Lauren would be a problem. I expected her to freak out and be crazy because we wouldn't let her play. I did not expect Brenden to FREAK OUT the moment the game started because someone kicked the ball away from him. All of those lectures about sharing and taking turns really stuck in his head so he could not understand why suddenly it was okay for someone to kick the ball away from him. He spent most of the game crying, some of it sitting down with us, and a small percentage of it actually playing and having fun.

"But I want the ball!"

During all of this, Lauren managed to knock my coffee over onto my already malfunctioning camera. (Why, camera, why!?!) She screamed. She kicked. She threw banana everywhere. This led us to decide that, even though it stinks, to save our sanity one of us will stay at home with her for his games.

It wasn't all bad. For a few minutes Brenden decided to have fun and he scored the only goal for his team. He ran all the way back to Tim, fist pumping high in the air, with the biggest smile on his face. I thought he would enjoy the rest of the game, but he went right back to being upset over who knows what.

Getting ready to kick off.

And of course, no soccer game would be complete without someone making a spectacular dive out of a tiny bump. Brenden has mastered this and he did not disappoint. Another player brushed against him and he flung himself sideways like he had been punched. We couldn't help but laugh.

Brenden is at the front. Go Brenden!

We're going to watch as much soccer as possible and talk to him about how the game will be. I guess for his first game ever it wasn't completely terrible, but it was plenty stressful. Our fingers and toes are crossed for a lot more fun and a lot less tears next week.

The House - 9-23-11

Remember yesterday when we had that rainy day that I was complaining about? How I figured it would mean the house would be delayed?

Yeah...they don't let a little sprinkle slow them down.

And BOOM...walls. 

Welcome to our almost home!

Looking back out the front door.

Standing in the living room, looking through to the master.

Standing in the kitchen/nook, looking towards the bedrooms.

 And my favorite picture of the day:

Love them. :)

Bring on the Clouds

Rainy days have always been some of my favorites, especially when they are few and far between and not 12 straight days of no sunshine. (I'm hard to please, I know.) They always meant curling up under a blanket, reading a book, and relaxing.

Then I had kids.

And guess what...I still love them. Overcast days mean the kids usually sleep in. One day Lauren didn't get up until 11:30 am, and that was only because Tim finally woke her up. From what I saw on Facebook, a lot of kids slept in that day. Thank you children of Oklahoma!

The drizzle doesn't pull the kids to laze around all day, though. When Brenden awoke on his birthday last week I was worried that we would end up spending the entire day inside, which is most definitely not what my very active son wanted to do. Since the temperature was decent, and he begged enough, we happily went outside and played anyway.

Note: Bubbles and a wet driveway are actually a lot of fun!

Another note: My children are more than happy to dress themselves, quite interestingly, when I let them.

(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday

Last Wednesday night I was cleaning and walked back to check on Brenden. I stopped in the hallway, confused at what I was seeing.

No, the cat was not a surprise. The door being open, though...

I'm pretty sure that's not how he normally sleeps.

Hmmm...I'm thinking he was tired.

A Big, 4-year-old Sized Thank you!

Brenden says, "Thank you! MUAH"

So much blue! So much fun!

Thank you so much to everyone that was able to make it to Brenden's birthday party on Sunday. We are so blessed to have such amazing family and friends. I wish I had a chance to talk to everyone for longer than 3 seconds, but that's the problem with knowing so many great people. :)

Thank you to Tim who was up so late on Saturday but who got up early with me, cleaned, cooked, and everything else that we needed to do. We love you!

An extra big thank you to Mike and Connie for bringing food, helping set up and being all around awesome.

And a HUGE thank you to my mom. This party would not have happened without her. She watched the kids, cooked, cleaned, and kept me sane. Love you, mom!

Brenden at 4

Happy 4th Birthday, Brenden!

My dearest Brenden,

I am still amazed that this perfect bundle of tiny baby fingers, teeny baby toes, and adorably squishy cheeks...

...has become this fantastic little boy.

You wake up every morning with a smile on your face, ready to meet the world. You love unconditionally with every fiber of your being and can find joy in the smallest things. 

You are the proof that every decision I have made in my life was absolutely the right one. 

I love you to the moon and back my snuggle bunny.

Happy 4th birthday.

Love Always, 

Mommy

Blue Cupcakes!

Since Brenden doesn't have school tomorrow we decided to celebrate with his classmates today. He was more than a little excited, to say the least. He was excited about his eggo waffle, he was thrilled with the fact that his jacket had a hood, and he was ecstatic that he had blue cupcakes to take to school to share with his friends.

The very happy almost 4 year old.

FOUR?!? When, what, how?!? Just...crazy.

Lauren's First Day

I had a really hard time sleeping last night. I kept having alternating nightmares about Lauren absolutely hating going to preschool and me forgetting to pick them up. I thought my dreams were coming true (in the worst way) when both Brenden and Lauren woke up in the type of moods that make me want to hide in the closet.

Somehow, we got out of the house and to school on time. Brenden happily plopped into his seat, but I warned his teacher about his whining so she could be prepared. I handed Lauren over to her teacher and it took about 0.7 seconds before she was screaming bloody murder. I smiled, said "Good luck!" and walked out of the school with my arms empty.

No, I didn't cry, but I sure felt weepy!

I spend the morning shopping for some last minute things for this weekend and then I did exactly what I told Tim I was going to do...I took a nap. It was fantastic. I woke up panicked that I had forgotten to pick the kids up, but I had plenty of time.

Brenden's teacher very happily told me that he was much calmer today and not at all whiny. Whew! Then it was off to find out how Lauren had fared. Not only did her teacher tell me that she did great, but she also took a nap! She did cry for 10 minutes but after that she was totally fine.

I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. I think Lauren will come to love going to school just as much as Brenden does.

This was the best picture I could get. She was not in the mood to sit still and most definitely did not want to smile. That sums up my morning perfectly.

Let's home next week goes well, too!

Overnight...

Yesterday we went to look at the house to see if anything had changed. Mike was nice enough to send us a picture of the land that had been leveled and we were curious how quickly they would start.

Sept. 4th, 2011

Sept. 12,2011

 Today:

Yes, sir!! :)

 It was really dark, but obviously they were hard at work today pouring the footing. SO EXCITED!

We happened to meet the people who will be living behind us. I mistakenly called their fence "our" back fence. I think she was a little taken aback by that since it is totally not our fence until we pay them half. (Which is our plan.) She was very nice and has a little boy who is very close in age to Brenden and told me that the neighborhood has a lot of younger kids. I'm feeling more and more confident that we made the right decision.

(Her daughter and her daughter's friend ran around with Brenden while we were chatting. They were cracking me up, telling him that his name was cute and his haircut looked good and that they liked his shirt. If he were closer to their age, I think they were both 9, I think he would have been strutting a little. He didn't even notice, which was why I was doing my best not to laugh. So funny!)

I cannot wait to see actual walls! We're on our way