SWEETHEART

Joshua is a sweetheart! After I picked him up from school we went to run a couple of errands. Our second stop was Borders. While there he said, "Mom, Caroline was beautiful today." My eyes popped out of my head and my mouth dropped when I said, "Oh yeah! That is very sweet of you to say Joshua. Why do you say Caroline was beautiful?" He then replies as he is casually looking at the neat craft kits at Borders, "She looked pretty because her nails were painted...I mean polished. She had polished nails." I was at a loss for words. I mean seriously. Where does this kid learn these things? My nails are rarely polished or painted. I wonder if he thinks I am beautiful.
I have to say, Caroline is a very cute little girl and the sweetest little chatter box at that. I don't think he has heard me say that though. Jeff is going to have to have the "talk" with Joshua much earlier than I ever thought.

NO OFFICER IT WASN'T ME...

...that dialed 9-1-1. We were at Grampie's and Mimi's house last night for dinner. While there Andrew grabbed the phone. No harm done until the phone started ringing. Dave answered the phone and it was a 9-1-1 operator. He said, "Oh I'm sorry, but it was my grandson. He had the phone and must have dialed 9-1-1." Well, we thought that was that until a police officer rang the doorbell. He gave both boys a police badge sticker and told Joshua, who was being shy, to always tell the truth. I am still laughing about it today.

IT'S DONE...

Well, either my friends don't like me, or mullets are really out of style. I am guessing that my friends like me enough to tell me mullets are out of style thus time to get Andrew's hair cut. Today Jeff and I took the boys to Snipits to get their hair cut. Joshua has been many times before, so it was not a big deal to him. However, it was a big deal for Andrew...it was a big deal for me as well.

Before...

He screamed and cryed with big crocodile tears as she was wetting his hair. Then he was able to calm down enough with a very sad look of disbelief as to what was going on.

End result...handsome little boy, even though he is only 16 months old.

A STORY AND A BOWL

The boys and I met Stephanie, Christopher, Lucy, Meghan, Drew, and Ty at Color Me Mine on Wednesday. Color Me Mine is a pottery place that you can paint pre-made pottery. We decided to check out their "Paint me a story" for kids. It was a neat thing to do with the kids. The story was The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The book was read and then the boys started painting their bowls. They painted the bowls with yellow first. After painting the bowl they wrote (Joshua got help from me) their name, age and/or the date on the bottom of the bowl. Then they took sponges and painted the body of the caterpillar. After the body they painted eyes, nose, antenae, and legs. The final touch to the bowl was to add food for the caterpillar to the bowl, one single leaf in the bowl...Very cute! I look forward to seeing the end result. Joshua did it all on his own...he and the other boys had an exciting time.
Thanks for the idea Stephanie.

AM I ON MY OWN?

Does anyone else experience a child that talks back, screams and yells when he does not get his way, or slams the door when sent to his room? Well we have one in our house. Thank goodness Jeff was home on Monday or Joshua and I would have spent most of the day in our rooms. I know there are triggers for him...we are working on understanding all of them and minimize those triggers. However, in the meantime it makes for a tough, rough, horrible day. Today I have a headache and the boys are just making it pound even more. Why oh why do they have to test me? I cannot do this on my own...I know the Lord is with me, but I need to become better at asking him for his help.
Just had to get that out there...a friend of mine said that she only seems to find good things on peoples blogs. She was thinking that it cannot be all roses all the time...it is not here and this is a little piece of our reality...I hope you are all enjoying your day!

TOILET FASCINATION

What is it with toddlers and toilets? Andrew is fascinated with the toilet. Oh no, not going potty in the toilet. He wants to stick his hands in it and play in the toilet. Absolutely disgusting! He sticks anything and everything he can in the toilet and will even try to get his hands in there if you are going potty yourself. Today I had to throw a toothbrush away. I guess he wanted to clean the toilet. It drives me batty. Why?

POLLING TIME

I have created a poll.
I think the ideal age to do the first cut is 2 years of age. No scientific reason, but it is just a time that the kids don't care about their hair and I can do whatever I want with it and all is well. However, a number of people have been teasing me about Andrew's hair. He has a mullet! I know this. He also has short hair on top and if I cut his hair now it not only goes against my ideal age of hair cutting, but he will look so much older. Why do I want him to grow up so fast?
With that said, vote and the decision will be made based on the poll results...Jeff you cannot vote more than once.

IT'S BEEN A WHILE..

...since we had a play date with the Braaten's. Heck, Joshua's last play date was before we left for CO, so he was needing some play time outside of Andrew. So, this past Wednesday he played with Cade and I visited with Meredith. Joshua and Andrew both really enjoyed playing with all of Cade's toys, new or old it did not matter. Andrew even enjoyed playing with Kenslea's swing. I told him he was too big for it, but every time I turned my head he was sneaking into it. Just before we left Joshua and Cade got to drive Cade's new Jeep...what a great toy! Joshua cannot wait to go back.
The hug...Joshua gave Cade a hug and said, "I am really glad you are my friend Cade. Are you glad you are my friend?" What a sweetie!!!

TURBO TURTLE

He won! He won! He won! Andrew won the Turbo Turtle ride on toy by Radio Flyer from A-List Baby. If you have not gone to the website you should. They have awesome giveaways all the time.
We got the prize in the mail on Tuesday. Andrew could not wait for me to put it together before he was trying to ride it. Below are some pictures of him riding it after I put the wheels on.

OTHER PICS

Here are some more pics from our stay in CO. We all had a great time and really enjoyed our time as a family. The boys had some great bonding time with Jeff and he and I were able to relax without work and other things getting in the way. Also, it was great to see the boys together. They had their moments, but you can really see that having only each other to play with helped them a lot.

ICE SKATING

We went ice skating today. Jeff is really good at ice skating, I am okay (I cannot go backwards, but don't fall that much), Joshua is learning, and Andrew is too young. The ice skating place has two rinks, an indoor and outdoor. Today we enjoyed the outdoor rink. Well, Jeff and Joshua did. Andrew and I sat out...Andrew being too small to skate and me being accident prone today I thought it was in my best interest. Anway, Joshua did GREAT! He barely held on to Jeff and kept getting back up when he fell. I am very proud of him trying. He cannot wait to come back and skate some more. I told him that we would look into skating lessons at the rink by our house. He seems excited about it. After we were done he said, "I am an AWESOME skater!"

HOT TUB TIME

One of the weirdest things we do in CO during the winter is enjoy the hot tub. I mean, there is something weird about getting into the hot tub while it is snowy outside and about 20 degrees out. We all had a good time and the boys slept wonderfully after.
Side note...We played outside in the snow during the day. I was ontop of a rock and Jeff thought it would be a good idea to push me into the snow. Well, it would have been funny if there was not a tree there...I hit my head. Of course I am fine, but it hurt like crazy and it is still a little sore. Then after we got out of the hot tub I slipped on the last step and busted my !@@ on the bottom step. UGH! That hurt like H-E double hockey sticks. I have a huge bruise on my rear and arm. Thank God I did not have Andrew in my arms. Now I really need the hot tub, but am afraid to go in it.

BIG HILL

We went on the "Big Hill" today. Mom decided to stay at the bottom and take pics while the rest of us had some fun sliding. However, Andrew did not have fun sliding. He did not like the snow in his face as we zoomed down the hill. So, he and I went twice in one of the wooden sleds. Joshua, Jeff, Randy, and I went many more times down the hill on an innertube and another wooden sled. My camera battery died after I took a few pics and the video. I look forward to going back with the boys later this week.

SNOWMOBILING

Jeff, Joshua, Mom, and Randy went snowmobiling (White Mountain Snowmobile Tours) yesterday when it was 25 degrees and snowing like crazy...here in Breckenridge it was snowing, but they were in Leadville and it was not snowing too hard. They all had a blast. It is about a 2 hour tour with 30 minutes of free range snowmobiling and free hot chocolate. They also let the younger kids ride free on kid snowmobiles. Joshua was a bit intimidated by that part. Jeff had to walk along side of him to help him out (see video below)...remember, he is only 4. There were two other kids there about 5+ years older than him going crazy on the snowmobiles. Jeff and I have done this before, so of course we would go back. Joshua, Mom, and Randy would all love to go back as well.

SLEDDING IN THE DRIVE

After touring town and having lunch we came home for the boys to nap. Well, Joshua napped so long that we did not make it to the hill for sledding. So, we decided to sled in the drive while there was still a bit of light. Andrew was not as fond of the sledding as Joshua...I think he thought we were getting hurt since we were screaching down the drive. I wonder what he is going to think of the hill.

FIRST TIME

Mom and Randy came up to CO for a long weekend. Neither have ever been to CO. They got here on Mom's birthday, New Years Day, around 6:30 p.m. The next day we took them into town and walked around. There is a little spot in Breckenridge that you can sit and enjoy the sites. A young couple asked to take our picture...Joshua chose not to be in the picture.
It was pretty warm this day, in the 40's...the snow was melting.

PLAYING IN THE SNOW

The snow was too tempting to stay inside, so we got the boys dressed and went out to play...all this after shoveling the deck. Joshua could not wait to make snowballs and Andrew just kept pointing to the snow.

SHOVELING SNOW

We made it to CO New Years morning at about 7:20 a.m. When we got to the house there were a number of things to do...unload the car, fill the humidifiers, setup the gates on the stairs so Andrew won't fall, set the clocks, and shovel the snow off the front deck. After going to breakfast and taking a nap Joshua and Jeff shoveled the deck. The snow was up past Jeff's knees. Although Jeff did most of the shoveling, Joshua enjoyed playing on the deck and eating the snow. Poor Andrew wanted to be out with the boys so badly. He kept banging on the door to go out.