Top 10 "You Have Got To Be Kidding Me" Moments Of The Week

1. Keep in mind that the week would mean from last Wednesday until now....Cam stayed home last Tuesday (yes, he missed his Valentine's party at school) Wednesday from school with a fluke 102 fever. Fun. Steve stayed home two days with Cam.

2. Lied through my teeth and sent a very sick and feverish friend on a surprise trip for her 40th birthday. There are a lot of details missing from that statement but it was tough to pull that off and I feel pretty guilty about it.

3. Colin came home from school yesterday with a fever nearing 104.

4. Slept on Colin's floor last night because his cough was so terrible, he was scared out of his mind.

5. Took Colin to Dr. today to learn that he did not have pneumonia *yet*. I can give him honey to help his cough and chicken noodle soup. Gee thanks Dr.

6. While at Dr. with Colin today I got a call from Cam's school (yes, the school where I work but was not there because I was taking care of another sick child). Cam was in the cross fire of a flying rock and got hit in the head. My first thought, oh well. My next thought after the Principal told me there was a lot of blood, oh crap.

7. Had to call Steve out of work to go get Cam since I was clear across town at the Dr. with the other boy. Steve picked up Cam and after some debate at home, we decided we needed to take him in to urgent care. My first intuition was that I just needed them to clean out the wound really well. It was a weird cut. More like a puncture wound. Must have been hit with the pointy end of the rock. But oh the blood.

8. Left one sick boy in Steve's care and took the other one to Children's. "Has he been seen here before?" I almost laughed. The triage nurse spelled out S-T-A-P-L-E-S when she was assessing his wound. Um no, I don't think so.

9. After a very very tearful application of numbing gel (they literally stuck the gel needle into the puncture to made sure it would numb it enough to clean the wound internally), we sat back and watched 30 minutes of Peter Pan.

10. One tearful wound clean later I convinced the Dr. not to put in staples. She agreed to glue since it cleaned up so nicely. Thank God.

11. Oh, and Steve will be staying home with the (still) sick Colin tomorrow. Then going in to work tomorrow night. I hate not living close to family.

I am not sure what is going on lately. I feel like it is one consecutive bad day after another. I am not sure if I am bringing this on myself with my bad attitude. However, it is hard to be cheerful when your kids are sick, your husband has to work crazy hours to help take care of the kids and dinner does not make itself. In my stroke of brilliance, I decided to get Chili's takeout yesterday since it was kids eat free. Would have been a great idea if I hadn't left my credit card sitting at the take out window.

I know the song to make rain go away. Is there a song to make bad days go away?

Ten on Tuesday

1. We went to the Nuggets game last night. We had great seats and were excited to get to share that type of moment with the boys. I think we had the youngest kids there (7pm game). I felt a little guilty for keeping the kids out so late on a school night. We left the game at half time and got home around 9:30pm. I think both boys really enjoyed the experience. However, Cam could not figure out which team was ours and kept rooting for the Rockies.

2. I took the kids bowling on Sunday so Steve could watch some of the Denver Broncos game in peace. Had I known the most important 10 seconds would come at the very end, I might have changed my strategy.

3. Steve was a brave soul and took Cam to a birthday party on Sunday mid-morning. It's a little intimidating for me to go to parties hosted by his school friends.

4. My goal this weekend is to clean out my van. I think I might be foiled by cold temps (tomorrow's high is 22) but we'll see.

5. It's a three day weekend. I'm really itching to get out of town with the boys but I am going to try be patient as Steve might have something in the works for February. Stay tuned.

6. The Bachelor does not seem to have the same pizazz this season as usual. I'm might not even watch the whole season. Okay, I probably will but I'm just sayin'.

7. Cam got it stuck in his head on Sunday that he wanted to buy a guitar. Not just any guitar but a Phineas and Ferb guitar. He had the allowance money saved up but this was the first I had ever heard of him wanting a guitar. Colin has one at home that Cam could play anytime. I had to pull out my mom authority card and say no. It was a weird moment. It was almost like he just wanted to find something to argue about. Oh wait, I'm talking about Cam. Never mind, I had him mixed up with a compliant, humble and quite little boy.

8. I'd really like to have an elliptical machine at home. It would give me a chance to read while exercising. mixing to of my greatest loves...guess I will have to save my allowance money.

9. My job is getting increasingly busier and so is our after school schedule with the boys. I think that equation is backwards. Something is supposed to slow down when another picks up.

10. I have a serious charley horse in my right calf. I had one last week in my left calf in the middle of the night. Last night the one on the right woke me up. It still hurts but feels better when I stretch it out. If I had a job where I could stretch all day, I might be okay.

Ten on Tuesday

1. Going back to work today was not as bad as I thought it would be. I love my job and the people I work with so it was easy to get lost in the fun instead of complaining about working.

2. Tomorrow might be a different story. Colin has been anxious the last four days about going back to school. There have been a lot of tears and hyperventilating. Cam has started to follow suite so it is likely that both boys will be in bad shape tomorrow.

3. There are 94 school days left. (Yipee!)

4. My kids like watching American Pickers. Strange.

5. I took Colin to the orthodontist today for his 6 month follow up from last summer. We were told that anytime we are ready, Colin can get braces on his bottom front teeth. What?!? He's can't be that grown up. We decided to wait until he has a further need for braces (which he will).

6. What is it with boys and wrestling? Why can't boys keep their hands off of each other? Along the same lines, why is farting so funny?

7. I need a good book series to read. I'm pretty versatile in what I like to read. (Twilight, Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings...). Any suggestions?

8. I love the library. I'm such a geek. I'm not sure I could ever own a kindle.

9. Our Christmas tree came down in record time this year. I knew that Colin would be anxious if I asked for his help taking down decorations. When Steve took the boys swimming on Sunday I saw an opportunity to race through the house like a crazy lady and get everything put away. By the time they got home, the only thing left to put away was the actual tree since I could not get it apart by myself. The strategy seemed to work because Colin shrugged his shoulders and decided that he would look forward to the decorations going back up next year.

10. Colin is an absolutely amazing Lego designer. I think he has found his "thing". I wish that Lego was an actual subject at school. It would sure give him something to look forward to everyday.

The Rest of Christmas

A very early 5am awake time marked the arrival of our Christmas Day. I loved the excitement but 5am was a bit early, even for me on Christmas morning.

Stockings first.

Santa brought them both an ipod touch. We have all had a good time playing on them. I am amazed at the things they can do on these. They can take pictures, take videos, text, facetime, listen to itunes....very cool.

Kitty sitting pretty. She was the only one that got to nap during the day.

We had a full house with the cat and the dog. Scooby enjoyed her gifts too.

I can't believe they sat still for a cute picture before opening gifts.

Colin's presents all stacked up.

Cam's stack of gifts.

Colin had a very "Lego" Christmas. He didn't count how many he received but they have all been put together. That kid is a brain when it comes to Legos.

More Legos.

Cam was not left out of the Lego fun. Lego reissued some of their Super Hero series. He finally got a Batman Lego which he has asked for every year for Christmas and Birthday's for the last 3 year.

Breakfast was served at 6:30am to some (already) very tired boys. Despite the early hour, neither child took a nap. Fun was had by all until about 8pm that night. Then we all crashed.

The gift of the day...Cam's new Super Mariano skateboard. He is going to rock that thing!

Skipping to a few days after Christmas....Roxy and her family spent several days hanging out with us. Colin and Cam were enthralled every time Josiah picked up the guitar.

Jenni and her fiance, Josiah. What a happy happy couple. They will be getting married in June. We enjoyed having them here and tried our very best to convince them to come visit again. WE also tried to convince them to take Snicks, but they were wise to out game.

Having fun at Dave and Buster's. This was our first time there. What an experience. It was fun but noisy. I'm glad we went right when they opened. It was very busy by the time we left. We did have a good time but much like Chuck E Cheese, it's a once or twice a year field trip.

The boys playing Guitar Hero. We didn't know how to work to controls so we ended up playing to the song, "Talk Dirty to Me". Awesome. That's just what a 6 and 7 year old boy need to be listening to. Cam got bored with his new toys very quickly. This is his impression of, well, himself. He's just Cam being Cam. He sure cracks me up!

We were hoping to give Josiah the ultimate sledding experience. The weather did not cooperate. The snow melted here too quickly and the wind was blowing too much on the mountain. We had to settle for 30 minutes in the mud which quickly turned into a snowball fight instead.

Josiah is smiling big despite the disappointment.

We made a trip to Pearl Street and watched a lot of the street performers. Colin and Cam did a few tricks of their own and made it up the boulders.

On New Year's Eve Day, Roxy and her family left for the long drive back to KS. Then that evening we rang in the New Year with some great friends. The adults had fun too!

18 Days Off and It's Snowing Outside...No Problem

So, what do you do with your two boys when you are facing down the long end of 18 days off of school and it's snowing outside? Why, you hold Boot Camp, of course.

This weekend Steve and I just about had it with the whining, complaining, fighting, sighing, wrestling and general grumpiness around the house. We went to the mall for Build-A-Bears on Saturday morning. Each kid got an amazingly cute animal but 10 minutes after we got home, the cuteness wore off. Grumpiness ensued and we listened to them argue until we left later that afternoon for our annual Christmas pictures.

Taking Christmas pictures is never a fun process but this time it turned out to be even worse. After arriving 20 minutes after our previously scheduled time (at least they were nice enough to call and let us know they were running behind), we still had to wait an hour. I did not think to bring the boys' DSi's since I thought we were going to walk right in because they had bumped us by 20 minutes. Bad move on my part. So after 2 hours we were finally done.

Again, insert complaining and arguing boys here. Since neither Steve nor I felt like cooking, we decided on pizza for dinner. Since neither Steve nor I felt like entertaining the boys for the next 3 hours, we invited our fabulous neighbors over. Best. Idea. Ever. The kids all had a great time and so did we.

Sunday rolled around and our boys complained about going to church. We persevered and made it through. (It seems horrible to talk that way about church but Cam complained the entire time that his throat hurt and Colin sat there like a sack of wet noodles.) Amazingly, when we got home Cam was better and at the mention of going bowling later that day, was very happy and fully recovered. With 5 hours to wait for bowling, the whining, wrestling and complaining continued.

I knew when I woke up this morning that it was probably going to be a long day at home. Anyone that knows me, knows that I love to spend time with my kids. However, I have some things that I need to do around the house, I slept later than I expected and I want to get some exercise in since the Christmas cookies are the bane of my existence.

I cleaned a bit and ran 4 miles. By 11:00am the boys had already unwrapped two Christmas presents (with permission but for lack of anything better to do), played wii bowling, Boom Blox and ate lunch. Colin was in his room pouting in his bed and Cam was following me around like a lost puppy.

This afternoon I plan on taking the kids to see Chipwrecked with the fabulous neighbors in the picture above. Being stuck in the house all day AND sitting through a movie leads me to predict that the boys will be up well past their bedtime and complaining through most of the day. Insert boot camp here....

Both boys ran a mile on the treadmill. Colin finished in 16:38 and Cam at a slower 20:05 pace. While one boy was on the treadmill, I stretched and lifted weights with the other boy. We did lunges, sit ups, push ups, planks, curls and tricep dips. I must say, I am very proud of myself for thinking outside of the box on this one. Ordinarily, this would not be my cup of tea. Both boys seemed to enjoy the exercises and now I feel better about letting them sit around the house and do nothing all day. Mommy guilt be gone!

Ten on Thursday

1. I always feel like if I don't have anything funny or creative to say, my message is not "blog worthy". That's why you have not seen any recent posts.

2. I also feel like if I do not include photos, my blogs are boring. Agree or not agree?

3. Once again this year I have overbought for my kids. Between what we have bought for them and what everyone else has bought for them, it's going to be Christmas Pallooza 2011. I started out with only 4 things for each of them. That sounded like enough to me. But then this video game needed this attachment and this electronic needed this cover and the needed points cards for this....and on and on and on...

4. I actually sort of bought something for Steve this year. Okay, so he ordered a bike frame and said, "This is what you are getting me this year". But usually he orders something and does not even give me a chance to put it under the tree. I am not sure if the bike frame will fit under the tree so maybe I will take a picture of it, wrap it up and put that under the tree. No, too much work. just go ahead and put it in the garage honey.

5. I have made so many cookies, candies and batches of chex mix. I don't even think I can eat anymore. However, I must continue on, put on a happy face and make more cookies with my kids.

6. We have not been able to go out in the evenings to look at Christmas lights. Get prepared neighbors, we will be driving by your houses this weekend.

7. Speaking of the holiday break...I am so ready.

8. I went to the dentist yesterday and and finally found out that the annoying discomfort on one of my back teeth is due to a crack in my tooth. The dentist gave me a few options. 1. Wait until it cracks completely off and have an emergency root canal. 2. Have a root canal now. 3. Have a crown put on now and a root canal in a few years. None of those sound like like great options to me.

9. Slices Pizza in Erie, CO...you are not going to last very long if you can not have any pizza ready for your customers when they come in to order a slice of pizza for lunch. I can say that I am not terribly impressed.

10. I hate to admit this but I had two Nutella sandwiches yesterday.

My Happy Place

I found my happy place this last week. It was in several different places and in several different moments. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

The boys and I crafted it up this week. I know the next few weeks prior to Christmas will be filled with school, homework and standard activities of the week. I wanted to make sure that we took the time to get into the craft box and decorate the house. We still have more up our sleeve, but this is a good start.

Every year the boys make a gingerbread house. This year I let each of them pick their own gingerbread kit. The Santa and sleigh that Colin picked turned out to be a little technical. However, what's not to love about candy and sugar?

Cam picked an entire village. That translated into more candy and more sugar. I know you are not surprised.

Both of the gingerbread creations turned out really cute.


In our crafting frenzy Steve and I managed to buy a new couch. Let me clarify, I went furniture looking on Friday afternoon. Then I came home and Steve went Friday night. The on Saturday morning, Steve went and purchased the couch that we both agreed on in separate shopping trips. Oh the life of parenting. I love this couch. We can all sit and snuggle together.

Every year the boys add a "tree" to our holiday collection. They are so easy to make. You just cover a piece of floral foam with fabric. Then use decorative push pins to add the buttons and foam pieces to your tree. This year the boys decided to use glitter paint too.

These are the completed trees over the last three years. I just love them.

I have to give credit to Steve. He put up all the outside decorations. Notice the straight lines of the lights? Notice the bicycle decorated in lights? Notice my cute little penguin and snowman that my sweet kids bought for me?

The boys and I decorated the tree. This is the first year that I have not put every single ornament on the tree. We were on ornament overload. The boys each buy one new ornament a year. Steve and I buy one new ornament as a couple. Combine those with all of the ornaments we already have and it takes hours to put them all on the tree.

We also went skiing over Thanksgiving break. It was a great success with both boys really picking up on their skills that they learned last year in lessons. We went tubing too. Lots of fun!

Of course I can't forget to mention that the boys played hours and house of their DSi games. Nice and relaxing. That's how I like my holidays.

Of course let's not forget that I made two batches of chocolate chip cookies, spent Thanksgiving with family in Aurora, took a kid to urgent care, saw a movie with a great friend, cleaned out the storage area and went Black Friday shopping at midnight. I know how to make the most of a holiday break. Only three more weeks until Christmas break!