Vegas Baby

Man this feels like it was SO long ago. I thought I had blogged this but just found all of these pictures saved but not posted! I don't even remember when this was but in the beginning of the year before Jim left the country they got to spend a few days in Vegas. My neighbors Jim and Kelly were amazing and offered to watch the boys. (Still not sure how we got so lucky!) We had an amazing suite from Gene and Kathy and really had the time of our lives! We gambled, watched an amazing show- Ka from Cirque, walked a lot and gambled a lot. I really wanted to do the zip wire adventure but there was mix up and they were actually booked so that's first on my list next time we go there! As much as I know the boys miss Jim the memories from this trip have gotten me through many a night!

White Lightning

When we purchased this house (or Peggy Sue as the boys call her) it came with a small riding mower. They said it probably needed a belt to get her started. As spring approached and the grass started to grow I realized I had NO idea how to get this thing started or repaired. I got a referral for someone to come mow for me but he wanted to charge $75 each week!! That wasn't going to happen so my neighbors across the street took a look at my mower and determined that it was something with the starter and said they'd let me know what part to order. They got busy and didn't get a chance so another good Samaritan looked at it and said it was the starter block and said when I found one to let him know he'd put that on.


I went to a parts store for all things mechanical. The parts were just about as much as the mower was worth. I left wondering what I should do and wishing I knew which part to get. I decided I was going to take matters into my own hands and call Sears. They came out and said it would cost over $500 just to fix the starter but they weren't even sure that was the problem. They left without fixing it but charged me $100 just for the 10 minute visit! In the mean time my next door neighbors let me borrow their riding mower. That was so generous of them but I didn't want to take advantage so the next time I used the little push mower that came with the house. It took me over 5 hours to mow and I think I had just as many blisters. I did not do that again!!

So then yet another neighbor said he'd look at it (he's a mechanic) when he got a chance. (Have I mentioned how lucky I am to have such amazing neighbors??) It turned out it was not the starter and he fixed it and gave it a full tune up........

So I was on our very own riding mower and feeling very grateful to everyone who'd been a part of the drama of getting it fixed! The only thing was it sounded like I was riding a go kart on a bad acid trip. Not sure what that sounds like? It goes putt putt putt PUTT POP!!! and I would then jerk forward getting minor whip lash. It was so bad that two of the neighbors came over trying to tinker with it but they agreed it didn't sound good at all. My mechanic neighbor came over and he laughed saying that it was fine I was just driving it too fast. (I didn't believe him!) They all got a good laugh over that as it turns out they all noticed how fast I drove the riding lawn mower. Since none of them have toddlers running around while mowing I don't think they understand my intent is to get it done as quickly as possible before they trash the house when I'm not looking!

So the next time I drove it super slow. I thought I was going to crawl out of my skin it was so slow. I was trying to appreciate the gorgeous day but the putt putt putt PUTT POP and jerk forward every 10 seconds was even worse going slowly. I'd gotten about halfway done when all of a sudden it started purring. I was ecstatic. I sat up higher thinking, "Yes this is it, now I can roll!" It went for about 10 feet then it POPPED and a black cloud of smoke came out. I was able to putt my way to the shed and stored it in there. Little did I know but that was the last time I'd ever ride him again.

I went to borrow my neighbors mower and as I turned it on the belts fell off leaving it useless to me until they showed me how to put them back on. It did this not once but two separate occasions. The second time I just threw my hands up and went to Sears. I walked in and there he was just waiting for me. Maybe knowing the history of this summer you can imagine him as I did. There was a light shining down from heaven and all of the other mowers just faded away. I might have heard some singing. It get's better- he was on sale and I bought the service plan too so if he breaks down in the next three years someone has to come out to fix him and I don't have to feel so helpless! I even got approved for the no payments no interest for 6 month deal. It was destiny.

I had a full gas can waiting on the day he was delivered. The delivery guy rolled him down the driveway and I think I skipped a little to meet him. I sat on him for a while just smiling and did a few test runs. He turns on a dime and handles the ditches like a pro. No more getting stuck for me in the ditch! I did fail to read the instructions (I was sitting on them while mowing) the first time and he would shut down with a loud pop every time I went into reverse. Turns out for safety reasons this is a new feature they've installed where you have to turn the key to a certain position to mow in reverse.

I think I might have a bit of a crush on my riding mower. Did I mention he has a cup holder? Bear saw him and dubbed him, "White Lightning." I will admit to having a bit of an obsession right now with the riding mower but hey my husband has been gone for 10 months- cut me some slack :-)

Bee Stings

Oh dear. I share this story only so that one day when Cooper reads this blog he will know just how proud I am of him today. We spent the morning doing yard work instead of going to church. I was under the deck getting all of the weeds, morning glory vines and mimosa trees that were taking over. I got all of the spider webs and even disposed of a ginormous spider that I'd been doing battle with for a few months. (That's a whole other post.) Then I raked as many pine needles as I could.

The boys were following me around blowing bubbles and helping me push the wheelbarrow. I should have quit while I was ahead but figured hey lets get a few pine needles from the front. I just finished telling the boys to get out of the brush because I thought there was poison ivy when as I was raking I felt a sting on my leg. Then I felt one on my head. I took off running! I saw the boys out of the corner of my eye just watching me but then I felt the sting on my temple and heard the buzzing in my ear. The bugger was stuck in my hair! Let's just say panic ensued. I was flailing and screaming all the while continuing to get stung. I heard Cooper scream, "Momma!" and I tried to pull it together. I think I told them I was fine and then I felt the bee escape.

In the mean time my neighbor Carole from down the street heard my screams! She came up to make sure I was ok. I got it together even though I thought I was losing my vision- they were just blurry from the tears :-) I started taking my homeopathy right away and could feel the stings pulsing. I haven't been stung since high school and had no idea if I'd have an allergic reaction or not. About 10 minutes into our conversation I notice that Cooper has a huge welt on his arm. I ask him if Carole's puppy had licked him. No, he'd been stung too!!!! Not one whimper from that kid. I guess he was too worried (probably shocked) about me flailing around! I gave him his homeopathy and his welt disappeared within just a few minutes. Mine took well over 6 hours to stop throbbing and shockingly it still hurts! I did make it back over to see if it was just a random bee but there were about 20 swarming over a spot in the ground where their nest was. Guess we won't be playing over there much!

The good news is we aren't allergic to bee stings- my pride however might take a while to recover.

Me & The Boys

A Date To Remember

With only about a month to get Jim ready for his deployment we decided to squeeze in a date to spends some time together where we were not allowed to talk about bills or the kids. So after a wonderful dinner Jim thought it would be fun to go ice skating!

We were trying to pretend like we were young and hip but a random teenager asked us for help getting his skates on. We knew then we looked like parents and not one of the kids squeeling with delight over the strobe lights flashing with music we'd never heard of.

You Gotta Wiggle It

Ooookaaaaay....

So, obviously, Abbie spends more time with the boys than I do. Well, today, I saw a hint of what to expect when I get back from deployment.

The boys were sitting at the table eating breakfast and they wanted some slices of an apple. They kept asking for "pieces of green". So finally, Abbie pulls out the apple...then says, "okay, Boys, dance...dance." And guess what? They all start to dance in their chairs. "You gotta wiggle it, just a little bit!" and they keep wiggling it.

Its wonderful to know that the boys exist just for our amusement. Abbie was like, "yeah, they'll be in school in the lunch line and just start wiggling it. They're friends will all be like 'what are you doing' and the boys will be like 'what, don't you dance before you eat?'"

Mmmm-hmmmmmmmm.

Puddle Days

What a fun day to just forget about the to do list and just go outside in the warm weather and play in the rain. The boys had a blast and at some point Coop kept trying to get me to chase him so I obliged.

How I Learned To Open A Coconut

I have to admit when I was younger my sister and I would take hours to open a coconut. It took a hammer, huge nails and lots of newspaper to protect ground. We would bang on that thing for what seemed like forever to get some coconut. Well I seem to be hitting a coconut phase and have a new one every few days. Of course this fell on Jim who could open it much quicker and easier than I could.

I asked Jim to open the next coconut and he said he'd do it. Said coconut remained on the counter for many days. I reminded him and even threw in a few pleases. When we hit the two week mark I asked if he was ever going to get around to opening the dern thing and he said if it was on his honey do list then he'd get to it when he got to it. Bleerrg. So the next day wanting my coconut I went on youtube. Do you have any idea how cool youtube is???? (Yes I know I'm behind the times.) I watched 3 different people crack open a coconut easy peasy. I pulled out the hammer and had that bad boy opened cracked and peeled in under 5 minutes. I was pretty proud of my accomplishment.

Wouldn't you know Jim came home that night and asked me where the coconut was he wanted to open it?

COME HERE, COOPER!

Okay, so I've been wanting to post this for some time but am finally getting to it.

As Abbie has pointed out on this blog, she's been potty training Cooper...well, more like he's potty training himself and we're just giving encouragement and emptying the pee bucket for him. Ain't nothing like having an outhouse sitting in your living room. But I digress.

Anyways, this happened when Abbie and I were sleeping in the living room on the air mattress as we conditioned Bear to sleeping in his crib by himself and without us in the room. It was probably three days after Cooper had started using the potty consistently, so, this past weekend or just before I would say.

Abbie and I were over near the kitchen talking and Cooper went over to use the potty. Normally, after he's done, he'll just close the lid and move on. Sometimes, according to Abbie, he'll pull out the pee bucket and bring it to Abbie to dump, but only after she asks for it.

Well, this particular day, Cooper got an A for initiative, but an F in judgment.

I'm talking to Abbie not paying attention, when all of a sudden, her eyes get wide and she bolts past me towards the living room. I turn, and there's Cooper with the pee bucket in his hands, walking around the foot of the air mattress (no, we didn't deflate it every day and re-inflate it every night), trying to get through a narrow choke point between the mattress and the toy bins. We just watched both Cooper and Bear fall flat on their faces when trying to navigate this choke point, so Abbie is moving at a fast clip towards him saying, "Cooper, baby, give me the bucket."

But she's moving too fast at him. He gets scared. He turns around and runs.

Abbie: "Cooper, no no no no no! Come here, Cooper!"

Cooper starts to crawl on the air mattress to get away from Abbie. Mind you, he's still carrying this pee bucket.

Abbie, "STOP, COOPER! NO!"

Now, this was said very loudly and very quickly! And what did Cooper do?

He freaked and threw up the pee bucket because it scared him so much!

It looked like something from a slapstick comedy! Pee going everywhere, meaning, all over our bedding on the air mattress, Abbie trying to get to the bucket to catch it before it flings its contents all over, pee bucket flying up in the air about six feet (my boy's got an arm on him), and Abbie seething because of it.

Me, I'm struggling to keep from laughing so that Cooper doesn't think its a good thing to do. Y'know, running from his mom, throwing piss all over the living room, that sort of thing.

Man, I'm laughing just typing this story! S'cuse me...
WAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Abbie laughed about it later after I cleaned up the mess.

More Duck Fun

We have a geese infestation in our apartment complex. It's a tad annoying to have geese everywhere you turn but it is cute to see all the little baby geese waddling along. I normally don't let the boys chase the geese but today was special. (I was bored.) We were at the end of our complex playing with some sticks when Coop spotted three geese at the very other end. It's a bit of a hike. He starts yelling "Duckies mommy duckies!!" I actually wanted to see if he would run the whole way so I said, "Go get them Cooper!" This kid took off screaming, "Duckieeeeeeeeeees!" Halfway he stopped abruptly and turned around to make sure I was really letting him chase the geese. I told him to go ahead and he took off again. The two smart ones scattered but the third must have thought Coop had some food and waited anxiously for this toddler to come to him. By the time he figured out Coop didn't have any food it was too late. Coop reached out and almost made contact before the goose started running for it's life. The goose started running towards me with Coop close behind yelling, "Wait duckie!" The other two geese started running behind Coop and I thought oh no what have I gotten my son into? Suddenly the goose took flight and almost clipped me with his wing. Bear and I fell back in the grass laughing as the other two followed suit and flew over us as well. Coop jumped on top of us and I thought you know I might actually like having these geese around here!

FREEZE! If You Don't Move, She Won't See Us!

From Jim:

Okay, I had to post this before I got sidetracked here at work.

I get up every day and go to work at 5:30AM for Physical Training. I'll usually check to see if Abbie is on AIM around 9AM. Today, I get a call from her at 7:56AM. I never talk to her before 8AM unless there's an emergency.

So when I got her call, my heart sank b/c it could only mean something has happened to Cooper or Bear.

And I was right.

Abbie is quite upset and almost ready to go into a panic attack it sounds like. She starts out with, "Your children..." That's not good to start the conversation that way.

"Your children opened..." Uh oh.

"...and ate..." Oh damn, they ate something under the sink that's not good for them.

"...the chocolate on the table." Huh?

Seriously? They ate the chocolate on the table?

Turns out that while Abbie was in the bedroom changing and getting laundry together, the boys decide to work together and poach the sugar-free chocolate bar that was sitting on the table. She apparently comes out, and they've already eaten half the bar. Imagine this in your minds eye...Bear and Cooper eating this chocolate bar saying to each other, "mmmm, that's damned good. Shhhh. Don't let momma know." Abbie notices its really quiet in the living room and when she walks out, they suddenly stop chewing as if to say, "Stop chewing. Freeze! She may not notice us standing here with chocolate in our mouths." As if Abbie was a T-Rex that only sees movement. They were caught red handed and guilty as all get out. And they knew it! They knew they were doing wrong. I'm sure that if they could talk well enough, they'd deny it 100%.

This chocolate is called "ChocoPerfection". It's a sugar-free, dairy-free, wheat/gluten-free chocolate bar that tastes exactly like chocolate. Its great for diabetics in case you're wondering. Abbie and I have had a few bars lately as a treat and the boys have noticed us eating them wondering what they are. Turns out, they now know.

Abbie was so upset. I laughed my fool ass off. It was bound to happen, and little boys are prone to doing something like that. I can remember being a little boy at Cape Cod and me, John, and Chris went to the local candy shop and spent all of our allowance on candy, which we weren't allowed to do, and as we were coming back to the cottage, we saw Dad and Mom. We ran around a sand dune and dumped all of our candy on the ground. I don't think we got caught, but I remember being really upset that my candy whistle I had been sucking on was covered in sand.

As for the boys, we don't know if they're immune and digestive systems are ready to handle refined foods such as ChocoPerfection, so we're going to monitor their reactions today. Abbie mentioned that one of them may already have been having a reaction. This is one of those reasons we're really picky about the boys eating...they just don't react well to things that others can handle.

Babies for Groceries?

There is nothing like doing taxes to give you a new perspective on your finances. We finally got things organized and I re-did our budget. A few months ago I'd had some success selling some stuff on Craig's List that gave us a little extra cash so this week I'm on a mission- sell as much as I can of our baby stuff so that we can pay for our groceries in cash this weekend.

I'm working really hard to let go of the baby phase. (I mean really they are both talking now!) We are so strapped for space in this apartment it actually fees good to get rid of things. So far I've sold both of my breast pumps. (I found the one I thought was in storage after I bought another one.) Our swing is gone and I have a box of clothes and shoes that I'm going to go trade to our consignment store so we will get some clothes for the boys for "free" that they need this summer.

I spent 4 hours yesterday scrubbing down the awesome high chair we have, the front facing double stroller and a few other things outside. I had left this booster seat outside and there were a few things nesting in it so it took a while to clean that. But now everything is spotless and ready for sale. It brought a very interesting question to mind for me though. Here I am spending a huge amount of time cleaning stuff so that someone else will now enjoy it. Why don't we take that good of care of the things we use on a daily basis? When you sell a house you paint, declutter and clean. Why don't we do that for ourselves in our daily life? Just something I got to pondering.

I'm already getting e-mails on the stroller and the booster seat this morning so hopefully by tomorrow those are sold and we can pay for our groceries in cash! Wish us luck!

How the Parents Sleep

I've actually gotten used to having our bed in the living room now (sort of). It has certainly made the place much more cramped but the boys adore playing on the air mattress so I haven't put forth the effort in putting it away. If I put it up against the wall they spend all of their time flopping it back down and making it a slide. It's actually good exercise for them to crawl up and slide down a billion times!

This past weekend I was desperate to get some more sleep so Jim threw on a show to distract the boys but they knew better than to fall for that one. I was besieged with the boys trying hard to cuddle up with me (yes that's me under those covers) and watch their show at the same time while I tried to get some sleep. I have to say I'm getting better at it. I used to never be able to fall back asleep!


Jim took a long road march with 75 pounds in his backpack this weekend. We had to go pick him up on his route (mile 6 or so for him) because he'd gotten some major blisters. As we came up to him I felt so bad. It looked like every step he was taking was pure torture. You could almost see the thought, "Must put one foot in front of the other. Must keep going!" He said he only had about 30 minutes to go at where we were supposed to meet but I think the boys and I would have been waiting for at least another hour to hour and a half!

When we got home the boys were down for a nap while Jim soaked his feet. I swear it wasn't even 5 minutes and I heard the snoring. The funny thing was I watched him startle awake and look at the laptop and furiously start clicking his mouse and then within 5 seconds he was out again. He doesn't even remember doing it :-)

Some Big News!

APRIL FOOL'S **********APRIL FOOL'S *******APRIL FOOL'S



I'm sorry to announce this on the blog before we've had a chance to call everyone. Life has just been so crazy lately. For those of you who voted "yes" on our poll - who knew?!?!

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APRIL FOOL'S
So I posted this yesterday and only got one person. I wake up to several congratulation e-mails this morning and kind of feel bad!! Kind of :-)

Can We Just Get To The Playground?!

Abbie has been bugging me to post this story. It's too cute.

One day when I had pink eye, Abbie asked me to take the boys to the playground while she showered since it had been a couple of days since she had a chance to shower. So, I agreed.

I got the boys ready to go and we went outside. Abbie went into the bedroom to get ready for her shower.

Me and the boys are outside, and I'm trying to get them to start walking to the playground. That's when Cooper asks me, "Where's Momma". When they both realized she wasn't joining us, they both had a fit and wouldn't walk any further. Nothing I could do would get them going. So we had to find Abbie for the boys.

We come back to the apartment. Abbie's got music blasting in the bedroom so she can hear it in the shower. Thankfully, she hadn't jumped into the shower yet...so she got her shoes on and joined us at the playground. Another example of how Abbie gets hijacked by the boys.

There was another incident that same week where I remember Abbie was going to come out with us, but told me and the boys to go ahead, and Cooper turned back to look at the apartment's front door to see if Abbie has joined us. He did this every few steps and really slowed down our progress in getting to the playground.

The Goop

Well I wish I could say that our lack of blogging over the last two weeks is because we were just so busy doing really fun things. Alas the goop, as I lovingly refer to it, got us all. Two weeks ago Coop came down with it in both of his eyes. He really was a great trooper about it. He slept a lot and patiently let us pick at his goop. Wednesday night Jim got home and he had the goop.It started off small and then stuff just was oozing. He had to stay home from work from Thursday all the way until the following Wednesday! He was getting better and then his other eye decided it wanted to have some goop. Friday Coop was cleared up completely so we went back to the gym and by the end of the day I was couch stricken with a horrible lung and sinus infection. (You know it's a good infection when you call the hubby in to look at the phlegm that you are vomiting up and he thinks it is cool!) On top of that I had a horrible headache that lasted for 4 days so I was no fun to be around. Then on Monday morning Bear looked up at me with his sweet teddy bear brown eyes and I saw the goop. Oh my goodness!! He got hit in both eyes as well but the goop was actually pretty minimal. So we were all house bound again and I admit to a little bit of stir craziness. Our apartment is small on any given day but with the four of us all at the same time for an extended period like that and the apartment felt even smaller. Bear started looking good around Wednesday his moved really fast and then I started feeling twitches. I literally prayed hard that if I was going to get the goop it come and go as fast as it could because I had a class on Saturday that I just could not miss. I'll spare you the details of all the stuff I did to make that happen (it will be on my health related blog later this week) but lets just say that I kicked some goop's but. I spent all day Thursday basically blind with goop. Each side of my face took turns swelling up to the point you couldn't tell where my eye started and my cheek began. I could only keep my eyes open for about 10-15 minutes at a time and then I'd have to let them close up and irrigate to get them somewhat open. It was very enlightening to focus on using my other senses. The boys stayed close to me and I could reach out and know where they were. I could feel when Bear was flapping his arms in frustration and I could actually feel when Cooper was smiling. He even took my hand a few times to lead me to something. It was a rough day because I had things coming out of my lungs, sinuses and eyes but I'd asked for it to go fast so I couldn't complain.

By Saturday I just had really red eyes but I was able to make it to the class. It was exhausting so I was in bed before 9 last night! Jim is still feeling twinges but overall we are all FINALLY on the other side of the Goop and tomorrow our life can resume. Yipppeeee!!!!

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I've put pictures of the boys and their goop saga. Jim is trying to persuade me to put one of me up. Let me just say this- I am to vain too do so. I will if like 5 or more people post a comment and for some strange reason have to see it. I literally made Jim promise to still love me before he could view the picture :-) It wasn't pretty and you don't want to see it. I'm just so glad it's OVER!

Longwood Visit

This is my dear friend Chris and I enjoying a lunch at Macadoo's in Farmville, VA. It took us 4 months to find a day when we could both meet up at Longwood for a day without the kids but we did it! (That in of itself I thought was huge.) But nothing compared to the changes at our little old college that is now a University! In a way it felt weird to be there because it was just so different. They had about 6 coffee shops and a huge new dining hall. It was nice to see the campus but it was also a blast to see Chris again and actually talk. The time just flew by and was over way too soon.

Great Caesar's Ghost

So the jacket I bought at Wal-Mart yesterday still had the anti theft thingy on it so I thought we could just run in real quick and get them to take it off after the gym today. I had a bag of flax crackers so I felt confident I could avert any pre-lunch tantrums. We go in and I feel my heart drop a little because the line is about 8 deep for customer service. As I stand at the door the sensors start going off saying I've activated the security system! The jacket didn't beep on the way out but it does on the way in? Who steals stuff and brings it back in??

The cashier from yesterday comes over and I tell her the thingy is still on there so she says she'll take care of it. Whew- we'll be out of there in no time. I look over and Bear has taken off at an all out run towards Subway. I throw the bag at the cashier and take off running after Bear with Cooper behind me laughing his little butt off. Bear starts running faster looking behind him just cackling. The only thing I can think to say as I'm smiling is, "This isn't funny!" I grab Bear right at the Subway and put him in a shopping cart. He's pissed I caught him but the cart instantly distracts him. I look back to Cooper and he has picked up some red mud someone brought in on their shoes and has eaten it. The look on his face was pure horror. He obviously was expecting a goodie not a mouth full of mud. So I run back to him to try and get it out of his mouth and he proceeds to vomit all over him, me and the floor. Great Caesar's Ghost!!! Bear is playing in the shopping cart and some older man is standing there reporting that there is a lost child to my cashier. Luckily she was watching the whole thing unfold and assured the man I was there. I was in the Subway asking the owners for some napkins, "my son has just thrown up." He hands me two. I could very easily have said a few choice words at that point. But I just repeated, "My son has thrown up can I please have more??" He hands me one more. (Sigh- I guess napkins are pretty expensive!) I take what I can get and the cashier comes over with my no longer contraband jacket and rolls Bear over to us. She said she remembered the boys from yesterday and how cute they were. Guess she won't forget us any time soon!

All cleaned up and off we go- I grabbed the sponges I had forgotten yesterday and this new cashier proceeds to tell me, "You MUST try for girl. You just must." I laughed OUT LOUD at her. I said, "With my husband I'm bound for another boy and then we'll have to try for 4- I just don't think I'm cut out for it!" She smiled touched my hand and said, "Try for a girl, you have to have a girl." So I pretty much ran as fast as I could today from Wal-Mart thinking- you guessed it- GREAT CAESAR'S GHOST!!

AMAZING

Sunday we had big plans- pack up for a trip to Snowshoe, WV. We planned to be out of the house by noon but as is our typical fashion we got on the road about 2 pm. The 6 hour drive turned into 7.5 because of some severe fog. Jim was considering getting out and running in front of the car to lead the way but when I told him it was about 10 more miles of ALL uphill he changed his mind. The boys were AMAZING. Bear fell asleep and stayed asleep till 4 am. Coop ran around when we got there playing with Poppi and when we pulled out the sofa bed he went right to sleep with me. Jim slept with Bear on the air mattress. (We didn't want to regress on the whole night nursing saga.)

It was rainy, foggy, and windy on Monday. So instead of skiing we traipsed around the mountain exploring all the new stuff there was to offer. We decided we really needed a mini-van after I had to sit in the very back of the Subaru hoping Jim didn’t get in an accident so we could all ride together. (Kind of hard to get a tour if our tour guide is in the car ahead of us.) What was cute for me is I would poke my head over the back seat and the boys kept saying, “Hi!” to me and if I put my hand over the seat they would both reach over and just hold my hand.

Coop was good in the wind but Bear was not a fan until we showed them the slopes and he was literally off and running across the slope thwarting many a skier. Home for naps- and I mean all 5 of us napped! Then Poppi had lined up a babysitter for us- Jenna. She was AMAZING. She had every confidence that she could handle everything and put us at ease. When she said, "Oh don't worry I can handle it if they fuss when you leave." I was like cool she has it under control. Poppi took us out to a new restaurant Ember that was AMAZING. They are booked well in advance but we got lucky with their last table. Poppi said to get whatever we wanted and Jim took him seriously. I think he ordered 3 appetizers and 2 entrees plus some wine. (Sorry hon but you did eat a lot!) It was the most relaxing evening- we spread it out over 3 hours and just enjoyed every bit of it. I ran into some old friends from when I used to work on the mountain which was nice. Since becoming a mom going out to the night club just doesn’t happen anymore. When we returned Jenna raved about how AMAZING the boys were. She mentioned they were the best kids she'd ever watched so our chests did puff out a little bit. To top it off they just went right to sleep.

The next morning was my mom’s birthday. We woke up with the sun thanks to the boys and got ready for the day. While Poppi went out to get Jenna we tried to get the boys in their snow suits to have a little morning outing. Cooper’s suit just didn’t fit him right or he just decided he didn’t want it on and he screamed the entire time. I think it was a little tight but he was so dramatic. He fell and then we were done. I think it took us all of 5 minutes but it was the longest 5 minutes of my life. Jenna showed up and we took off for a day of skiing. Whereas the day before had been rainy, foggy and windy Tuesday was AMAZING. Lightly snowing, fresh snow and no crowds. Last year on Mom’s birthday her and Chris skied the whole mountain so we did a few practice runs and then did the same trek they did. It had been about 4 years since we skied and we just picked it right back up and had the most AMAZING time.

We had to get back by 2 and we found all three of the kids dead asleep on the couches. It was truly one of the cutest sights. When I woke Jenna up I scared her half to death but she raved at how AMAZING the boys were again and promised to babysit any time we needed her when we were there. What can I say we have two little charmers.

As soon as the boys woke up we got dressed again and took a walk down to mom’s favorite walking path. The boys had a blast walking in the snow. They would hit trees and delight in the snow falling down. Cooper loved us hitting each other with snowballs. We finally got to a beautiful spot on the path and Chris and I spread some of mom and Wolfie’s ashes. I felt like I’d been with her all day and could feel her smiling. The boys had kept on going but suddenly returned and they were done walking so Jim and I put them on our shoulders and headed back.

We got dinner together for the boys and then Jim and I headed out for some night skiing. We had a great time on one of the easy slopes that nobody was on so it felt like we had the slopes to ourselves. Then for some reason two young kids weren’t paying attention (and neither were the lift operators) and got in between us and the lift chair. Unfortunately Jim and I didn’t realize what was happening until it was too late and mass confusion ensued. It ended with Jim’s butt up in the air blocking the chair from progressing and me yelling, “What the hell!” about 20 times. I was so scared Jim was ripping his knee apart and everyone just seemed to have a thumb up their butts. Finally Jim just fell over and onto his back. I could see him trying but he couldn’t get up. Just picture two poles and two skies flailing about in the air and lots of grunting. One of the lift operators finally helped Jim up and we got back on the lift. The other operator came out and thought it appropriate to make fun of us. I’ll admit I’m still laughing about it but we’re lucky Jim wasn’t hurt. That would have been a whole different story.

We got back to the condo and as you might have guessed Poppi reported that the boys were AMAZING. I pulled both the boys onto the couch bed and they both fell asleep in my arms. (Bear was a bit frustrated when I wouldn't nurse him and tried to give my arms several hickeys) but they both wrapped themselves up in my arms and went to sleep. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.

This morning we woke up to more snow! Jim couldn’t take off more work so instead of leaving after lunch we sped up and were heading off the mountain by 10 am. I have to say my hubby did an AMAZING job driving in those conditions. It took us a really long time to make it but we made it. (We only saw 1 car flipped on the side of the road.) The boys were truly wonderful. (Yes even AMAZING.)

We stopped once for a late lunch and a game of chase but they never fussed the whole time and it took us 8 very long hours. (The picture of Jim laughing below is him pulling over into a snow bank and trying to scare me as he came out of it!) The boys were happy to be home and are now back in their beds. I was worried about the trip and thought it might be overwhelmingly sad but really it was a wonderful way to celebrate and have fun which is what my mom wanted. So happy birthday GiGi I love you!

Happy Valentine's Day (2008)

So last night as we are going to sleep Jim whispers, “Did you want to do anything for Valentine’s Day?” I think I grumbled a little and said, “No.” Then he says, “Oh I didn’t order flowers this year like you asked.” Whew- I love getting flowers don’t get me wrong but this year I didn’t want that bill of those flowers. I told him if he wanted to get flowers just grab some from the grocery store. We agreed, no flowers, no cards, maybe dinner but we’d see how we felt.

This morning when he got up I heard him putzing around the house and I thought good god what is taking him so long then promptly fell back asleep. When I woke up I found this note with three roses. Jim had strategically in the dark planted 9 roses around the apartment for me to find. Coop got into the fun of it yelling, “Look mommy a heart!” helping me out. We found 8 of them and I thought hmm well maybe he just got a cheap batch with only 11 roses?? It was still a nice surprise to wake up to my flower hunt this morning.

Today was errand day- first stop the bank. I went in prepared a tub of prunes a pecans and some flax crackers and Flora plus a bag of toys. The boys entered and said, “ohhhhh new playground!” and proceeded to jump on the couches, run into all the offices with Cooper yelling, “Hi guys!” I was trying to multi-task by being at the teller trying to pay off one of our rental property loans (Thank you Poppi!!) and trying to get the account I had set up for Bear fixed so I could see in on-line. During that time the boys ate everything I brought with me that was to last the whole day, and then moved on to tearing apart this poor man’s desk while I was on the phone with on-line banking. (Which I thought was interesting since when I called on-line banking at home they told me I had to go to the branch??) I pull out a bottle of probiotics and pour out a handful of the little plastic hearts! I start laughing but the lady at the teller didn't quite get it. Then Bear disappears and Cooper starts playing hide and seek with me yelling from behind a pillar, “Mommy where’s Cooper??” I turn and smash- the phone goes flying to the ground and I have hung up on them! The manager comes out and says for security reasons the boys can’t be on this side of the desk. (They were trying their hardest to type something on his keyboard but it was locked.) I’m thinking security? She does realize they can’t read right? But she pulls out a tub of toys and they are then content while I finish things up. The staff actually had a good time with the boys but man I was tired once we left and we still had a lot to do.

My GPS broke so I had to use good ol mapquest to find a Mission downtown to donate all the old baby clothes to. I was so thrilled that I found it without getting lost. The man getting my donation says to me he wishes he could enjoy Valentine’s Day but his wife isn’t with him anymore. My heart broke for him. I told him I was sure she would be with him in spirit and that she loved him. He said, “Oh no I’ll see her tonight she just divorced me!”

Next up- a quick stop at a book and gift store that rents out practitioner rooms. The boys went crazy. Coop was focused on the little waterfall and picking up candles. Bear was focused on pulling down the chimes on the front door and on throwing a candle down that I had to purchase because he dinged it up. We made quick work of it but they were making it REALLY hard to have a conversation with the guy about the rooms. We made it out with only 1 tantrum so that was good.

Next stop- Whole Foods. I figured since Jim had surprised me with the flowers I would surprise him with a nice home cooked meal that was a little special. Did I mention I went during the lunch crush? I cut someone off for a parking spot and cringed but I thought hey I got two kids back off. (Hey it makes me feel better.) It was crazy in there. Isles and isles of flowers and people packed in there. We grabbed a few things and I begged Coop to sit in the shopping cart so I wouldn’t lose him. He didn’t even fuss just got in and I took the easy way out and grabbed some sushi. Not my original plan but it was crazy and the boys were hungry. I had big plans to feed them and then they would nap on the way home. We went outside and sat in the sun. Coop refused to wear his jacket and had a t-shirt on. I chose to leave that battle alone. They chowed down and they even let me change diapers with no fuss. At this point I’m feeling like my kids are the bomb. They have been so good. They are showing no signs of tiredness so we stop off at Wal-mart for some diapers and shampoo and maybe a card. Coop wants me to chase him so he goes off at break neck speed yelling, “I’m gonna get you!” So I start saying “No I’m going to get to get you!” and when I catch him he falls to the ground and I tickle him and he squeals. Well the third time I did it, he literally tried to cuddle up on the floor and said, “Mommy I’m sleepy.” We made a drive by of the card section but I kid you not it was so packed there was a line to just get into the section. I told the boys- looks like no card for daddy! Believe it or not I was even contemplating trying to squeeze in a haircut for they boys until Bear started screaming and then fell asleep 1 minute from home and I thought- I have it made. Easy transfer. Hahaha ha.

I left the sushi/groceries in the car and toted the boys downstairs. Coop climbs into bed and I put Bear down and I swear I don’t know what happened. He freaked out and wanted to nurse. The rule is I don’t nurse for him to go to sleep so I held strong. For 40 long minutes. Inside I was freaking out because the sushi was in the car and I was just imagining the sun beating down on it. Whap! Bear smacked me across the face. So before I returned the favor I put him down in his crib and let him “fuss it out”. Got the sushi- it was fine packed with cold things. Came back he was at the door trying to claw his way out under the door. Put him back in the crib but moved it so he couldn’t crawl out. NOT. He was back at the door soon after. The second time he held on so tight I told him I would hold him if he wouldn’t nurse. Do you know he didn’t even try? So he’s out within seconds and I finally come out to do some work.

At some point I managed a call to Jim to check in about this potential 12^th rose. He had me searching all over. This apartment is only so big. Turns out it was behind the television, I just had not turned it on or even looked in that direction. But that mystery was solved. So the one wilted rose in the bunch is from being behind the tv all day.

So then suddenly Cooper wakes up screaming… and screaming and screaming. What the heck is going on? I think he's up and bring him out to the living room but he falls back asleep on me. Then Bear is awake and screaming. My little angels just turned on me! So Bear was up and he proceeded to poke at Coop until he woke up. I “prepared” dinner and cleaned the house and put a nice smelly candle on. The boys and I made a card for Jim. I mean really it’s the least I can do right? Jim gets home and hands me a bag. He got me a very sentimental gift and he actually made me the most beautiful card I’ve ever received. He actually came up with a list of 10 things unique to just us. I’m such a lucky woman. To top it off he gave me some lotto tickets. “Lotto for Lovers” to be exact. I ran around the apartment yelling, “I won the lottery whooo hoooo!”

So the day was fun, I can see why I don’t pack all of our errands into one day though. I like Valentine’s Day in a way because it’s nice to just remind each other how much you love each other but sometimes I think who needs another Hallmark holiday you know? But if Jim made me a card like that every year man I’d be one happy chica. Hope everyone had a great day!