Bren's art

It's bedtime around here, and the Super Bowl is a dud. Poor Beau. Bummer of a day. His basketball team lost and now his beloved Peyton Manning and the Broncos will lose the Super Bowl. Nevertheless, sister thinks her brother is a winner. 

It's February

Really? Where did January go? I'm not exactly sure. I worked a lot. I mean. A lot. Hoping these projects pay off for me in the long run....

I've also planned and shopped for an upcoming birthday party (BRENLEY!!!!!), got custom Valentines ordered for the kids (I don't do anything out of a box),  and kept up with everything else the best way I could. We maybe ate out a few more times than what I would have liked, but there has to be some give somewhere and I'm in a cooking slump. 

Let's see.... Our fountain water pump is working again after 3+ months. We have zero fish to show for it and a very nasty and stinky looking pond. Oh well. Warmer weather gets here - and we'll get that fixed. Sad little pond right now.

Speaking of things not working... Our dryer decided to stop working so we went washer and dryer shopping to replace our 15+ year old set. It actually wasn't an easy decision for me to want to purchase something new, but so far no buyers remorse. The capacity on these things is enormous. They'll save us a lot of time just because we can get so many more clothes in a load and we can wash comforters!!! No more laundromat for that!

And if I haven't mentioned it yet, our house is Brenley's playroom. These babies were sleeping on our couch while she was at school the other day. Creeped me out a bit every time I came upstairs. 

This was something Beau did at school the other day. Words he uses to describe himself. I love it. I love his confidence. I pray he never loses it.

And so yeah, it's February. I love It because my baby's birthday is this week and Valentines day is around the corner. Two great reasons to be happy, happy, happy!!!

These kids

Every day I am reminded how blessed I am when I look into my kids eyes and consequently catch my husband's eyes as we share the same deep love for these two. They are seriously amazing people. They may have their listening and pouting moments, but generally, are just all around funny and smart and sharp witted.

Brenley had hat day on Wednesday. "Mom, put this on Facebook!"

Show and Share at her school was to bring a tiara on Friday. "Mom, put this on Facebook. Me Ma is going to flip out when she sees me."

Both kids are well aware of who Martin Luther King is and what he did. I think that is so awesome. This is what Beau brought home from school on Friday. 

See what I mean? So blessed.

And this is my favorite shot from his basketball tourney this weekend, where they went 1-2, BUT won the B division bracket because well, we shouldn't have been in the A division to start!  So when we dropped down to the B division, we won the game we needed too!!!

I kind of cut his head off, but it's still a cool foul. Such a big boy.

And so, here is to another awesome week with awesome kids!!

Family Crest

I think since both kids have been through preschool and now kindergarten, this is maybe my 6th family crest. After the third one, you would have thought I would have kept it to just re-use each year. Guess not. So hopefully this is my last family crest.

 Brenley is mad at me because I only let her help me pick out the pictures, but I let her complete her 100 day school project completely on her own, and the other mothers schooled us. Not this time says the mother that always wins!!! Bahahaha (insert evil laugh here).

Catching up on the small stuff

So after the holiday break, I can say now that I am glad to be back in a routine. Glad to have kids back in school. Glad to send my husband off to work each day.  Glad to have our evenings full with activities.  Not that I minded having nothing to do, and I'm sure I'll be complaining about being over-scheduled in another week or two….. but when a family has literally nothing to do…they look to Mom for "what to do, what to eat, where to go, etc. etc. etc."  And honestly, that's a lot of pressure. At least school feeds them lunch so I don't have to decide that for them too!

Anyhoo…… January has started off nicely.  I didn't have to go to Denver market for the first time in 8 years (I think), and while I did enjoy market, it's always a huge stressor for me right after the holidays. And while I have had more than my fair share of office work to do and catch up on, it was nice not having the Denver madness over my head.

The kids….well, they continue to be awesome.  Here are some highlights.

Brenley started back to school on January 2nd.  Beau didn't start back until the 7th. So when she would get home, he was ready to rumble with someone, which unfortunately meant her.  She obviously had enough of it because she wrote him this letter and delivered it to him at just the right time - when he was bothering her.

To recap, the envelope was To: Beau Grant….  Inside it said, "Please read this. Leave Me Alone."
She is a woman of few choice words, like her Me Ma.

And to stay on sweet girl, here she is at our favorite eating place, Bud E Rooster, where the balloon man was there again.  He made her a monkey hat this week.

We were celebrating after her speech lesson, which she ended up blowing her Speech teacher out of the water.  I don't know who or what flipped the switch, but she has really been speaking well.  Smooth, soft, and stretchy is what we practice. I don't know if it is from all the singing she has done over the holidays (and we are still singing Christmas carols and pop hits, so we sing a lot around here), or if it is her increased reading skills, but whatever it is….she nailed that lesson. So much that the teacher had to scrap her lesson plan and improvise AND we don't go back for 3 more weeks AND she spoke to Brenley about graduation.  "Do you know what graduation means, Brenley?"  Not sure Miss Debbie was prepared for a 10 minute dissertation on what graduation means.  What does graduation mean? Come on, give her something challenging.  ha ha

This is the other precious moment I want to capture.  At night before bedtime we get in the old fight of "who loves who more." I vividly remember having this same "fight" with my Mom always ending with, "I love you mostest," knowing full well "mostest" was not a word.  Anyway, she said during our love you more fight, "Mom, I love you more than Ms. Beth loves Jesus. And Ms. Beth rreeaaallllyy loves Jesus."  I had no comeback for that because you see….. Ms. Beth DOES love Jesus. She teaches music and gym to the kids at Northridge. She loves Brenley, she loved Beau and still asks about him, and well, she just has a huge heart and isn't afraid to tell you to have a Blessed day and how much the Lord is good.  She is an awesome lady, and I just love that Brenley used that analogy.  She never ceases to amaze me.

My big boy….well, he got all A's and one B (Math) on his second 9 week report card. We were so proud of him.  He also got a perfect attendance award too. He is such a great kid.  He has started baseball practice and is getting ready for our next basketball tournament next Saturday. He loves sports.   Loves them.  Ask him who is playing tonight or this weekend, and he can tell you the time, channel, opponent, and relevant stats. You can find him wearing on any given day something with Broncos, OSU Cowboys, or OKC Thunder. Today was a throwback Elway shirt to support his Bronco's.

And speaking of sweet moments….this boy has them too. He wrote this as part of a reading assignment about a book he is reading at school. It's about Me Ma and Pa Pa's dog Sandy and how much he loves her.  Sweet sweet boy.

That's it for the little kids.  The big kid is pretty great too. Even with my recent down turn in home cooked meals (i.e. I have ruined several of them)….he still loves me.  He even brought me home on Friday flowers and a DVD movie that I wanted to watch.

I continue to be blessed with healthy kids and healthy adults. Reading all these updates about illnesses going around, I just am so thankful it has not hit us to date.

Oh yeah, and I do have to say…Happy Birthday to all my January birthday family members, including several of my friends and Brenley's friends (she already has two parties next weekend, with I think another later this month).  My oldest brother had a birthday, my nephew Carter is now 5 (and he is so cute), my two nieces Alyson and Jordan have birthday's this month, and of course, my Mama has a birthday.  Lots of good stuff in January and of course, February where Brenley May turns 6. Let the party planning begin!!

Sleep in heavenly peace

She told us that she was going to make it until midnight. She was out well before 9:00pm. 

And Beau? Well, he took an impromptu trip to All Star sports with his baseball buddies. So cute. I've not seen him move that fast to get out the door and join his friends in a long time. And he is still not home.

Brian and I? Pizza, beer, chocolates, fire in the fireplace and Modern Family on TV.

2013 is ending on a high note! 

Many blessings for 2014!

OSU Basketball

We caught a Cowboy basketball game last night and it was so great to be back in Gallagher Iba Arena and this time to be with my boys! Because the students were out of school, we were able to sit in the General Admission seats on the floor. It was great! I love my Cowboys, and my favorite men, so it was the perfect day!!

 We were trying to get Beau to get us with more of the court behind us, and this is what he took. Really? It makes me laugh, though. Couldn't see your finger was in the way, buddy?

Marcus Smart. 'Nuff said.

 Beau "kind of" getting his picture taken with Pistol Pete. Ha ha. Great night. Great seats. Great company.