You know its bad when...

I never in my life thought I would hear these words come out of my husband's mouth: "Honey, will you make me some tea?". Wow. He must really be sick. If you know my husband well, you're probably as shocked as I am. He hates hot drinks and refuses to ever drink one. I told him last night that he should drink some throat relief tea I have and it might help him stop coughing, so he relented. I knew he must be desperate for some relief. Every time I looked at him with that mug, I started laughing. It was just the most hilarious thing to me. It would be like if you saw your husband wearing high heels or something. It looked that out of place to me! i asked him if I could take his picture so I'd have proof. So tonight he actually asked me on his own to make him another cup.

So does this mean there's hope I might someday hear these words too? "Honey, I really think you should go shopping today." One can only dream, right?

Happy Birthday to Nana

To celebrate Judie's birthday, John booked a room at a hotel in Ankeny so that we could all go swimming! It was so much fun...especially in the dead of winter. Bennett didn't miss a beat from the last time he was swimming more than 5 months ago and was jumping in on his own and swimming around with his water wings on. Boy, does that kid take after his mom and dad though...he thought the big pool was too cold and spent probably 75% of his time in the hot tub. (And no, never more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time for all you safety nuts out there thinking, 'isn't he too young to be in there that much??'). We all had dinner and cake together after a couple hours of swimming and Nana and Poppy were sweet enough to let the newlyweds (Aaron and Bria) have the room for the night :) My favorite thing about being tight on money these days is that stuff like this seems so special now. That may sound cheesy, but I can't tell you how excited I was about it and how much fun it was telling Bennett we were going to get to go swimming. I just really appreciate my new found perspective on everything these days. You'd think we'd be feeling negative about a lot of things, but its the complete opposite--I find ways to think of everything as a positive now. We're so blessed and I love spending time with our whole family. Thanks again, Poppy! And thank you, Nana, for wanting your birthday to be a special day for all of us!

Dawson snoozing poolside:

A Real Boy!

Sorry folks...I'm way behind on blogging. Feel like I can't even catch my breath these days. And some of you moms work full time?? Honestly...I don't know how you do it!! I had a couple posts I wanted to do but my DVR'd Project Runway is seriously calling my name so I'm only going to do the most important one. Bennett's 1st Haircut!! Yes, he's 2 1/2, but I was having a really hard time admitting he was really ready for one. I hate when little baby boys turn into big boys overnight when their parents chop off all that fine wispy baby hair so soon and I didn't want Bennett to be a big boy yet! But as you can tell from these before pics, it was a little overdue. (Funny...I didn't realize how overdue it was until I saw these before and after pics! Yikes!) I have a new awesome hairstylist who goes to my church so I just brought him over to her house today and she did it for me. She just trimmed the back and the sides so we can keep growing it out.

Here's the before:

While she was cutting it, he sat so incredibly still with this serious expression on his face. So cute. I told him he was turning into a real boy and he said, "Like Pinocchio!".

And the after!:

It definitely tore at my heart watching him grow up before my very eyes but he looks adorable now. And he won't be so high-maintenance anymore. We used to have to do lots of wetting and combing every morning so he didn't go out with his Afro.

Happy Valentine's Birthday

Our Mom's Group had a Valentine's party yesterday. It was a lot of fun. The kids exchanged Valentine's, we watched a Clifford Valentine movie in the theatre room and ate lots of yummy Valentine treats! Bennett kept calling it Valentine's Birthday. He said, "after Valentine's Birthday, it's Kietlyn's Birthday!!" (his cousin's party is tomorrow.)
The kids were so cute, all lined up to watch the movie (The only 15 minutes of quiet the whole morning!):

Winter Camp-In

Who says you have to wait til summer to go camping? Bennett loves his new bedroom :) Plus, he was already sleeping on a sleeping bag, we just completed the package. Although we probably won't be roasting any marshmallows in there...

Its setting in...

I've been at work part-time now for 3 weeks and the hecticness (I know, not a word) of it is starting to set in. I work Monday, and Tuesday, Wednesday we have playgroup, Thursday we have tumbling class, another playgroup in the afternoon and sometimes worship practice at night, then work again on Friday. Not much downtime in there and my house is showing it. On my days off, I just want to relax for the one hour (maybe!) I have during Bennett's nap. And in the evenings after the boys are in bed, I'm exhausted and just want to spend the time with Jon. So that leaves time for cleaning, um...never. I don't think that would fly with Jon. So somehow I need to get my own butt in gear and figure out a system. (And by system, I mean, figure out how to not be lazy during every moment of spare time!!)

I took these pictures after Bennett's nap the other day because his curls looked adorable. When I was pregnant with him, I used to hope and pray for a brown-eyed, curly haired boy but never really expected it. Jon's hair was straight and blond as a toddler and mine was always straight. Somehow God aligned our genes just right to give me this gorgeous little boy :) Most days his curls are pretty unruly so we have to do a lot of spraying and combing. I think its time for a legitimate haircut.

Why can't they all be like this?

This was one of those extremely rare days where everything was just lovely. (I love that word...makes me feel British). The four of us went to Bass Pro Shop after lunch (a great FREE winter activity) where Dawson slept the whole time and Bennett led the way through the store, in awe of all of the animals. Then me and the boys went to the library, one of my favorite spots these days. I brought some tea and snacks (really wanted Starbucks but used my better judgment and went the cheap route :) so we could stay a while. We were there for about 3 hours. I get to sit and read magazines while Bennett does their entire of stack of puzzles. Its just the most peaceful place--I guess because its quiet.
Then we came home and I fixed a quick dinner (Jon was at a basketball game). I actually got to eat my entire dinner without getting up once. I was SHOCKED. Its usually, "I need my water. I dropped my fork. Can you wipe my hands? I need something else to eat." I'm one of those people who wants my food piping hot. So that's probably my biggest parenting pet-peeve...having to get up for this and that while my food continues to get cold (the unfortunate status quo these days). He didn't even play with his food. He literally sat there and ate his entire bowl of pasta like a normal human being! And then I gave him a popsicle which kept him busy for at least another 20 minutes and I actually got all the dinner dishes done right away...another huge feat for me! Then we did another big puzzle together (seriously...you'd think he'd be sick of them!), read a couple of his new library books and then lights out for Bennett. Ah...my treasured "me-time". And I'm not even sitting here guilty because the dishes aren't done :)
How I wish there were more days like this...