Still getting the paint out from under my fingernails!

Last weekend was pretty much consumed by me measuring, leveling, marking lines, taping, then painting Nicholas' bedroom...

But I think the outcome was worth it. I know for certain Nicholas LOVES it...so my time was well spent.

We painted his room the main brown color a little over a year ago because he wanted a brown room...go figure?

Well, it looked pretty good, but it was lacking the fun factor that a young boy's room requires.

So, We decided to paint a big band of tan with a border of two smaller blue stripes.

I really like it, because Nick is able to hang up all his posters, pictures, and general stuff within the lighter tan portion and it looks great.

Painting the lighter color also lightened up his room which before reminded me very much of a cave. Way too dark and depressing for me.

My next project is to paint black to match his bed. I think I'll paint the drawer fronts the same blue color as the stripes on the wall and replace the knobs.


I think this room will be a great place for this creative kid to grow up into his teenage years, which dare I say are just around the corner? YIKES!
Just the other day, he mentioned to me that he is no longer a little kid...he is a tweener!
How did that happen?

Motherhood is Funnier Than Fiction

All you mommies out there in need of a good laugh MUST check out this site.

http://inthemotherhood.msn.com/

My friend, Marianne, told me about this site on MSN called In The Motherhood. It's a bunch of small video episodes of actual mom experiences that were submitted by real moms. The 'moms' are portrayed by actessses Chelsea Handler, Jenny McCarthy, and the girl from King of Queens. These gals are so bloomin' funny!!

SNOW!

Snow in the Spring?

Just a few days ago I was out basking in the warm sunshine while mowing the lawn...

What is going on?

Pretty, pretty Spring day.

This is the reaction you get after you tell your boys that they have a two hour school delay!

Nicholas always likes to push the sledding limits... He turned his into a make shift snowboard.

Nolan had to follow Nicholas' lead. Sitting on sleds is just so last season!

(said in a very somber way with many nose sniffles...)

"Nicholas threw a snowball in my eye and it hurt real bad."


Ahhh.... the joys of boys!

Despite this being the last picture on the post...we truly had a lot of FUN this morning with the two extra hours the school district allotted us. Snowballs, snow angels, sledding, and hot chocolate rounded out our morning.

And according to the weather guy... he says there may be more snow on the way!

HOORAY!!

We can't say we never win anything anymore...

Yesterday, Connor called from work to say....

"Hey, Kel... I just won a ham today."

"I didn't really want to win a ham, but I noticed the entry forms in the cafeteria yesterday at work...I thought what the heck...and filled one out."

"I'll be bringing the ham home tomorrow."


Why can't we win the lottery, free concert tickets, or even a free snapple? I guess when you and maybe two other people fill out an entry form to win a ham- your odds of winning are pretty good.

Our Budding Artist!

Nicholas entered the "Reflections" contest at school this year. Reflections is a national program that invites school kids of all ages to participate by creating visual art, literature, photography, dance, or film production. Each year there is a different theme that the art work is supposed to be based on.

This year's theme was..."I can make a difference by..."

He came up with this beautiful sketching of a bird house in a birch tree. I. Love. it. I know I'm biased because he IS my kid, but, really... I think it's great! I love all of the texture he put into the the details. He had to write a statement on the back of his entry that supported how it fit the theme. He wrote "I can make a difference by making a wildlife habitat for birds because most of those places are being torn down."

His entry was chosen among thousands of other entries to advance to the district level. He was stoked to find that out!

This boy has always loved art and has always had a knack for drawing. His uncle Todd's artistic ability somehow found it's way through the gene pool and ended up giving Nick the artist's touch!

Respect your elders

Here's a birthday shout out to a great friend of ours who just happens to be turning the big 40 today!

Happy Birthday Rob!! (Or the "muffin man" as my boys so lovingly refer to him.)

Everyone should have a friend like Rob. You can always count on this guy to make you smile. When I think of Rob, I think of a funny, kooky, outdoorsy, hard-working, practical joker, fun-loving, never boring, generous guy all rolled into one fantastic friend!

Did you know, that 40 years ago, on the blessed year you graced this planet...

Gasoline only cost 34 cents a gallon?? Oh those were the days!
The average income was $7850?
The first Big Mac went on sale at McDonalds?
London Bridge was sold for 1 million dollars and then re-erected in Arizona?
Planet of The Apes was a number one movie at the box office?

I hope you spend this day exactly how you want to and that the next 40 years bring you much happiness, good health, continued friendships, and fond memories. We love ya!

(Sorry Rob, these are the only photos of you I could find because most of my photos are locked up in my broken computer... the first one was while we were on vacation on Lake Roosevelt, and other two were both taken in 1992 at Disneyland! Rob loved the Dumbo ride!!---Connor demanded multimedia so I had to deliver!)

You no longer have to imagine us on vacation!

Here of some shots we took while on vacation last month in Disney World.

First stop...The Magic Kingdom!

Chip or Dale in the All American parade on Main Street

Nolan in his metalic, light up Mickey ears...very cool to see at night!


My guys posing up in The Swiss Family Robinson's Tree house



Busted! Probably for having too much fun...




A little preview of what we'll see on the road in about 5 years. YIKES!






Nolan and I LOVE this ride! We went on Big Thunder Mtn. Railroad about seven or eight times.






Nolan and his pal Chip... or is this Dale? You'll have to ask Nolan, he's the only one that can tell them apart.




NEXT DAY..... ANIMAL KINGDOM! Happy B-day to Nolan!


Tree of Life. This thing is HUGE and has carvings of animals all over it.







My boys looking like they like eachother. Thank goodness they really do!

I LOVED this ride too... Expedition Everest. Fast, Scary, Dark, Backwards, big thrill, the best.

Nick and Connor do not agree. Nolan liked it enough to go on it twice!

We met Rafiki from Lion King

Kinda sad.....but this is the only photo of mom. I'm always the one behind the lens.

On safari in "Africa"

This was a highlight of the Animal Kingdom, Nolan couldn't stop taking photos--lots to see!

Self explanatory






HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS (sick Nick and Nurse Mom did not make it there this day)

"Honey We Shrunk the Nolan" playing on the magnified playground.

It was a neat playground!

Tower or TERROR

HOTEL SHOTS

Disney's Port Orleans French Quarter is where we stayed. Beautiful grounds situated next to the river.

We took these boats up the river to Down Town Disney almost every evening for some grub and shopping fun. It was relaxing and lots of fun!

Our hotel's swimming pool. This cool dragon water slide was the the deciding factor for Nick and Nolan choosing this hotel. Too bad it was closed for 6 out of 7 days of our stay!

Oh! Another shot of me! Those are my toes. (and Nolan)

We did get to use the neighboring hotel's pool while ours was closed and actually, it turned out to be a whole lot nicer and the water slide was longer and more fun for the boys!

Nolan about to splash into the pool off of the slide!

So... There's a taste of what we did while on vacation. I'm a little disappointed in my photographer skills this time around. Seems like a missed a bunch of good opportunites. Didn't take ANY in Epcot or Down town Disney. OOPS. Too busy shopping I guess.

Babies Babies Babies UPDATE

We interupt this blogging broadcast to bring you breaking news on the baby front.

Sister-in-law, Sarah, as mentioned in previous post... called to say she will have to go out and buy a whole new baby wardrobe. Her little new bundle arriving in July is going to be a BOY! And boys just don't look so swell in pink frillies.

We are thrilled for her and Josh! Savannah is going to be such a wonderful big sister to her little brother. Congratulations to you all!

Babies, Babies, Babies

I just love me some babies.

And as I was driving home today from having a wonderful lunch with my sweetie I got to thinking about just how many gals I know that are currently pregnant or have just given birth to sweet babies.

There seem to be quite a few!

So I just want to say Congratulations to these ladies and let them know just how excited I am for each and every one of them. Babies are the epitomy of pure, sweet, joy.

Connor's cousin Erik and his wife, Melissa, had a handsome (or as Erik likes to say, Manly) baby boy in mid-January. I got to hold Reese for several hours last weekend and it was so much FUN! He made the best noises, facial expressions, and he was so stinkin' warm and soft...it was the best.

My friend/ex-boss, Suzan, just had a beautiful little girl on January 30th... two full months early!! YIKES. Luckily, she is doing amazingly well and will get to come home with mom and dad later this week. Suzan is just sure that Makena entered this world early because she wanted to be born under the sign of the Golden Pig. Another couple of days and she would have been a rat. She was born only weighing 3+ lbs...but has been piling on the weight and now weighs in at almost 6 lbs. Yippee!

My dear friend, Karen, whom I've known for 30 years is also due to have a new baby in July. I'm so stoked about this little baby because if all goes as planned I will get to see this little boy enter the world on his birthday! I've never witnessed a birth (I don't consider giving birth the same at witnessing. You're in a whole different mind set at that point!) and I've been told it is an absolutely amazing thing to see. Especially, since I've been through so much with Karen, it just seems even more special and I can't wait to be there.

My younger sister-in-law, Sarah, also has a new bun in the oven that is due to done baking in mid July! We don't know the gender of this latest kid, but I'm sure its older sister, Savannah, won't mind one way or the other! She will be a fabulous big sister and her mommy, Sarah, is such a wonderful mommy! We are so excited to have another baby in our family.

So, since my baby making days are far behind me it's fun to share the joy of these new bundles of love that have arrived or are soon to make their big debuts. The world is always a better place with new babies wrapped in soft blankets that have countless people who love them!

Congratulations all you mommies!

Rude Awakening

Sleepovers can be such a blast. Because it's mid-Winter break, we hosted a fun sleepover with our niece, Jessica and our nephew, Ben. All the kiddos had a fun evening of Nintendo, ice-cream sundaes, a little dance-dance revolution, and a whole lotta laughter. It was GREAT!

I turned the lights off at mid-night and informed the four of them that they could talk quietly a little while longer before catching some zzzzz's.

Ahhh.... peace and quiet. We all drifted off to sleep.

Fast forward to 6:32 AM.

Nolan bursts into our room, looking a little frantic, and spouting off something like "MOM! Ben was going to the bathroom...but he didn't shut the door.... and my kitty,Sophie, got peed on!"

Within 1.3 seconds of finishing his last sentence...Sophie made an appearance by leaping onto our bed within inches of Connor's noggin. It was at that moment that Connor responded "You mean this kitty that just hopped onto my clean bed??? Nolan...take this pee cat outta here!"

Nolan shuffled out, deflated and sorry about the scene he had just caused.

Can you imagine a nicer way to wake up? It was just a glorious start to our day. All I could do was laugh about Sophie's impeccable timing. Then it was off to the shower for Sophie...

Probably the next worst thing to being woken up by a pee cat is trying to give one a shower. Funny how a cute little ball of fluff can instantly turn into a deadly clawing machine. Just add water. Maybe next time, she'll reconsider investigating what goes on in the bathroom when a boy has got to go.

This boot was NOT made for walking

Remember the days when your toddler aged kids didn't grasp the concept of sharing? That was a hard lesson to learn when your are only three and really believe the tonka truck is meant only for your enjoyment. Well all of my hard work of getting my boys to be generous and realize sharing is a good thing has really paid off because....


Nolan didn't have any qualms about sharing his lovely walking boot and crutches this morning with Nicholas.

Yup. Your heard right. We have another gimp living in the house. Why are my boys so flippin' fragile? I give them milk with almost every meal. They excercise A LOT at school and Taekwondo. They even take a multivitamin each and every day.

Nick's pinky toe is dark purple and swollen which indicates to me that he has broken yet another bone. No need to go to the doctor because we've got all the necessary equipment from prior visits to the E.R.

I think I'll spend the rest of the afternoon cleaning out my boys' dressers to make room for the bubble wrap clothing I'm going to have to make them wear from now on.

Domo Arigoto Mr. Roboto

My sweet Valentine of 17 years surprised me with a little token of love for V-Day....

Was it flowers? Was it a giant heart shaped box full of scrumptous chocolates? How 'bout a card filled with words proclaiming his undying love for moi?

Nope.

It was......














A sweet and thoughtful ROOMBA! A robot vacuum cleaner or "slave" as we've so lovingly referred to it.

And I LOVE it!!

I have to admit, I was a little surprised by this gift. Connor is known for giving thoughtful, beautiful, excellent, and tasteful gifts that NEVER involve household appliances. But as soon as this little robot fella was all charged up and ready for some serious cleaning action I was hooked.

He merrily (I like to think of it as a male, it's like my own little butler!) cruises quietly around my house, sweeping and sucking up any debris that my lovely children and pets have deposited. I can sit on my bumpkus while he goes to town.... Or, I can be doing the dishes and getting two chores done at once. Brilliant!!

I really need to come up for a proper name for this little robot... "slave" just doesn't sound very good. I'm open to any suggestions anyone might have.

Anyway... Thank you Valentine for this thoughtful, time saving, fun to watch gift. I love you.

Swing your partner

How would you like the opportunity to learn how to Swing dance?

I, for one, think it would be SO. MUCH. FUN. Who wouldn't want a chance to Jump, Jive, and Wail with your honey?

I'll tell you who....

My fifth grader.

This kid woke up the other day to the fear of having to learn how to swing dance at school. It's the current P.E. unit they are learning for the next couple of weeks. When I tried to convince Nick how much fun it was going to be, all he could think about was how he'd have to ask a girl to dance. He was mortified. Nothing I said was curbing his fear. My comforting words were falling flat. So...finally... I settled on telling him he should probably choose a girl who is, shall I say, petite. One that would be easy to swing around the dance floor. he agreed and went to school with butterflies in his stomach.

Later that night, he confided in me that swing dancing is not for him. He said his stomach was in knots all day long. I asked him about what girl he asked and he said "I was so nervous I just took the last girl that was left." "She was not short." "But we managed." I think the fact that he's in a class with six grade girls just made this whole scenerio ten times worse for the poor kid. Do you remember sixth grade girls when you were in school? Remember how they tower over the shrimpy boys at that age? I'm sure he did fine, he's a coordinated young chap. And what little girl wouldn't want to dance with such a handsome sweet boy?

He's counting down the days when this section of P.E. is behind him, I think he'd rather run the mile run. In the rain. Without shoes.

Last year in the single digits

Nine. What a wonderful age. Do you remember being nine? Life is good at that fine young age.

Nolan turned nine while we were away on vacation so I'm a little late in dedicating this post to him.

Happy birthday to my sweet Nolan, Nol, Rawhide, or Jennifer as one of his crazy friends at school likes to refer to him. Don't ask me why...maybe it's because he's given her the nickname "Bob". His crazy, fun-loving way is probably the number one thing I love about that boy. He doesn't care what people think, he's perfectly happy being the kid he loves to be. Even if it means wearing a crazy, spring-loaded, jingle bell clad elf hat around town and to school. If it makes him happy, he'll do whatever he likes. I love that.

I also love the fact that he cares deeply about the ones he loves. He takes such good care of his younger cousins. He gets such joy out of helping them out or just teaching them something new. He is kind to everyone he meets and I think that is one of the reason he makes new friends so easily. Every time I call from work to chat with him to see how his day went, he ALWAYS ends the call with "I love you mommy" even if I don't say it first. ALWAYS!! It melts my heart.

It's also a well known fact that Nolan is very laid back. It takes a lot to get this boy riled up. He goes with the flow and takes everything in stride. I could probably take a lesson or two from him on this subject. Easy goin' Nolan is every teacher's dream come true. He easily accepts new tasks without worry, can be paired up with ANY other student with a happy attitude, and doesn't seem to get fazed by big assignments or presentations.

I hope he goes through the rest of his life with the wonderful attitude that he possesses already. He's funny, sweet, smart, tough, sensitive, friendly, goofy, lovable all rolled into one terrific kid.

I hope this year is by far your best yet. Enjoy being nine- it's a wondeful age to dream, play, grow, learn, laugh, and be the crazy kid you love to be!

Disney World or Disney Hurled?

Oh to be back in Orlando... Sitting by the pool sipping a mai tai while my boys splash and swim away the afternoon under the warm sunshine.

It makes me smile just thinking about it.

We were gone for eight days and for the most part had a very nice vacation.

Day one-
Red-eye flights are NOT for me. I'd finally doze off just in time for the pilot to announce that our seatbelts MUST be fastened. This happened about 12 or 70 times during the 5 hour flight... it was a little bumpy. But once in Orlando I happily walked around the Magic Kingdom in my zombie-like state for about 5 hours until we were finally let into our hotel room at 3 pm. Just a 5 hour nap was all it took for us to feel refreshed and so we ventured over to Downtown Disney to get some grub and see the sights. It was a lot of fun and we hopped on the little ferry boat that took us down a delightful waterway back to our hotel. Really fun and so convenient!!

Day two-
NOLAN's 9th BIRTHDAY!! The day was all for him! He got to call the shots, so he chose to check out the Animal Kingdom. This park is so lush and beautifully designed- WE LOVE IT! Nolan was given a birthday button to wear that had his name on it, and every single Disney employee noticed it and made a point to wish Nolan a happy Birthday. It was amazing. While we were waiting in line for the safari, one of the employees came up to Nolan and said "Nolan, somebody wants to talk to you on the phone, come over here." He dailed a number and before we knew it, Nolan was getting a birthday greeting from Goofy! How cool is that? He was so pleased and it was fun to see Nolan with a perma-grin on his face the whole day. The rest of the day was spent at the hotel pool. The boys loved going down the dragon water slide and swimming the evening away.

Day three-
Not the best day. Nick woke up with a high fever and a nasty cough. Big Bummer..... I spent the majority of the day with Nick, quarantined in the hotel room watching cartoons and taking naps. Poor kid was so upset that he was missing the fun. Connor and Nolan ventured out to Disney Hollywood Studios Park and had all kinds of fun on the Tower of Terror. Ok,...maybe Connor had fun on the Tower of Terror. Nolan not so much!

Day four-
Nick still felt under the weather, but at least that nasty fever was gone. Halleluiah! We decided to make him rest one more day because we didn't want him to get worse and have to sit out the entire week! We went to the lego store and bought him a couple treasures so he'd have something fun to do while stuck in bed. (By the way...I still can't believe our hotel doesn't have ANYTHING in the way of games, books,movies, or activities for sick kids to do. LAME! Not even the gift shop had anything.) Nolan and I hit the magic Kingdom again because we just can't get enough of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad! I think we rode that ride about 7 times...it's the very best!

Day Five-
Hooray- the four of us can actually go out as a family! We decided to go to Hollywood studios- it was great! We saw a couple of amazing stunt shows, had lunch, and Nick and I braved the Tower of Terror. Not a favorite. I guess I just don't like having my stomach in my throat as much as Connor seems to like it. Next it was time to do nothing by the pool- My Fave! Connor and I just chatted away, sippin' on our cocktails, while Nick and Nolan swam to their heart's content. Glorious.

Day Six-
Epcot- here we come! Epcot is nice, but probably my least favorite park in the Disney world complex. The boys and I decided to park ourselves in "China" to have some lunch, while Connor walked all the way to "Germany" to grab himself some sort of sausage and 'kraut. Probably not the best thing to do before going 64 miles an hour on the "Test Track" ride. We managed to keep our lunches down and then went to the "Soarin over California" ride which we unanimously love. It's the best!! More pool time, more mai tais, and happy times!

Day Seven-
How can it be our last full day already??? We decided to venture back to the Magic Kingdom for more magic. We really wanted to head to one of the water parks, but Nick was still recuperating and Nolan was not feeling all that great. I guess we'll just have to go back again someday!

Day eight-
Up at the crack of dawn to catch our bus to the airport. Apparently, the bus driver likes to keep his bus very hot, drives very "jerky", and likes to clean up vomit. Because two of his passengers got car sick on the short jaunt to the airport. Unfortunately, one of them was my son! Nick turned to Connor just in time to say "Dad, I don't feel so good" then covered his mouth with his hands in an attempt to keep the spewage from coming out. My quick thinking hubby, grabbed Nick's hat right off his head just in time to catch the special delivery. Sweet! That was just the icing on the cake to a slightly less than wonderful vacation. Nick felt much better after that, but was extremely bummed to have sacrificed his favorite hat.

Now we are home, freezing, and dreaming of the time we spent in good ol' Disney world hugging Chip and Dale, eating frozen lemonade, squealing through Space Mountain, and just doing whatever we wanted whenever we wanted. It was a nice vacation spent together even if it had a few less than perfect moments. It was definately memorable!

( I will post pictures as soon as I get my picture software downloaded onto our new computer. In the meantime, you'll just have to visualize us in all our souvenir garb checking out the sights.)