A First for Me...

Yesterday morning I treated myself to a manicure and pedicure. Due to last minute "issues" here at home, I almost had to cancel...but I was relieved when Brian insisted I go and spend the morning at the nail salon! Wow, what a treat it was! I truly felt pampered :) My instructions before leaving the salon were "do your dishes w/ gloves on" and "put 1 clear top coat on your nails/day." Ha! That probably won't happen! But at least my toenails and fingernails look pretty for a couple of days! (and no...my feet, toes, and fingers are not model material, I know!)

This Week's Favorites

Every week I tend to have my "favorites" as far as products go. Here are this week's fav's:
Garden Salsa Sunchips - yum! not too spicey, not too blahhh
Desitin - this is the go-to cure-all as far as little people's bottoms go
Pedialyte Freezer Pops - the kids won't drink Pedialyte but these gems are going down like crazy
Twilight Soy Wax Candles - spring-time scents smell so good, and these burn a long time
Tri-Wheat Leave-In Conditioner & Detangler (by Supernatural Ecoly Formulas) - great for little and big people hair
V-8 Splash - not too sweet and no aftertaste

Such different kids

Bryton and Avery continue to prove to me how very different they are. Bryton has been battling a nasty cold for a few days, which started with a fever. I always know when Bryton has a fever because he wants to lay around and his eyes look very, very sleepy. Well, this morning Avery is running a fever as well...but a person would never know it! She's playing, talking, just like the usual Avery. This is the problem I used to have when I'd take her in for her well-baby visits. Her Dr. would take a look at her ears and say, "well, this one looks red...she's got an infection here." And I'd feel like a horrible mother because Avery had given me no clues! When Bryton was little and battled his ear infections, he'd throw up, lose sleep, run very high temps, etc...
Other examples I see daily of how our kids differ (and some of these things have a lot to do w/ the different ages they are at):
* Avery always wants to "go there" when she sees pictures, watches something on TV, or hears about people we've seen or places we've been to. Bryton has always been very content staying home, playing with his toys.
* Bryton has patience when he's working on a "project." Avery gets frustrated and we have to encourage her to stick with it!
* Avery loves to dance and sing for people. Bryton does, too, but it takes him awhile to build up enough courage to do so!
* When things don't go his way, it takes awhile for Bryton's temper to flare. Avery, on the other hand, is very quick to show her horrible temper.
I love that our kids personalities are so different, it adds quite a bit of variety to my day!

Cheap Entertainment

The kids definitely have their "favorites" as far as entertainment goes these days...
Bryton loves LEGO'S, and Avery loves Play-Doh. Each of them will sit and play with their respective favorites for at least a half an hour at a time...sometimes as long as an hour! Times like these are heaven for this Mom!
Brian is a man of many hobbies, but lately he's been chilling and reading a good book. His favorite author right now is Michael Connelly. In the past his imaginative mind has kept busy by oil painting, sketching, wood carving and burning, working on RC planes, shooting his bow...and of course art projects with the kids :) All of these are great hobbies, but its a nice change of pace to see him sitting in the same room with me once in awhile, reading a book w/ his limited free time!
As for me, I continue to love to read when I get a chance to do it. I don't think I have a favorite author right now, but lately I'm a sucker for romance and/or mystery novels....and a good magazine (or two, or ten)!
I suppose these forms of cheap entertainment have helped us keep our sanity over this long winter. Come sunshine, green grass, and warmer temps...we'll be out of doors, but for now its nice staying cozy, doing these things we love!

And so today is Thursday...

I'm up early, partially due to a young daughter and dog who didn't want much to do w/ sleep last night! Why was I up 5 times in the night w/ these "babies" of mine? My educated guesses would be:
*that they weren't quite tired enough...come on Spring!!!
*too many Easter sweets, already! (in Avery's case)
*young bladders are fickle little things!
And so our day has begun. It will be a good day.

Mommmm.......

We were walking into school this morning...and Bryton has a tendancy to lolly-gag his way thru the door.

"Come on bud, keep moving" {Jess}
"Mom, please don't call me that." {Bryton}
"Call you what?!"
"Bud. I want you to call my Bryton."
"Oh, OK. I though you didn't mind that name."
"Mommmmm...."

Hmmmm....I call him "bud" and "buddy" a lot, but apparently that isn't a very cool name while we are on school grounds.
Maybe I need to start taking notes, because this has only just begun...but I think I'll amuse myself with this "dorky-ness" I've achieved, at least once in awhile!

Ice-Cream Cheeks

Yes, our children have been blessed with their mother's ice- cream cheeks :) I can't help but smile at these cute little round faces, especially when they are all bundled up.

Wiggly Teeth

Bryton had a check-up at the dentist this morning, and his dentist said, "lookin' good...and your bottom 2 teeth are wiggly, so they'll be ready to come out soon!" I didn't know how Bryton would react to this, since Bryton and I haven't talked about losing his baby teeth yet. He wasn't concerned. He simply said, "yep, they are a little wiggly" as we were walking out. And of course he's a big fan of the whole tooth fairy concept. He asked, "Mom, is Avery going to lose her teeth too?" I replied, "yes, when she gets as old as you are." He thought about that a minute and said, "yep, I am getting pretty old, aren't I?!"
Makes this mommy a little sad that this growing up stuff is happening so quickly...but I also appreciate their independence :)

(the 2nd picture was taken one year ago...he hasn't changed much, other than growing taller by the minute!)

These are a few of my favorite things

This morning I asked Avery what her most favorite "things" are, and this is the list she gave me:
princesses, castles, frosting (we were making cookies), milk.
Then I asked her what Mommy's favorite things are, and she listed:
princesses, castles, frosting, germ-x!
So, at the age of 2, she has realized her mother has a bit of an obsession w/ using germ-x!

History Repeats Itself

The other night, before bed, Bryton was whispering something into Avery's ear while they were brushing teeth in the bathroom. Avery giggled and said, "ok!"
Avery and I went into her bedroom so she could drink a little milk and head to bed...and I heard Bryton tell his Dad, "Mom needs you in Avery's room." Now most of you know that Avery has a tendency to hold her breath and pass out, so Brian usually answers this type of request pretty quickly! Since I knew this wasn't the case, I decided to wait and see what Bryton was up to.
Brian walked in, Bryton turned the light on and said, "this is going to be funny!" and Bryton "de-pants'd" him! Bryton, Avery, and I were laughing so hard (I know I probably shouldn't have, but it was hard not to!) Brian didn't find it funny, however, and proceeded to lecture Bryton on how you don't pull people's pants down..."ever!" Needless to say, despite the lecture, Bryton was still giggling softly when I went in to kiss him goodnight :)
And so I can't help but remember the good 'ol days, when we were on vacation, and my brother and cousin Trevor (both weren't much older than Bryton at the time) pulled down Gpa Chuck's pants in the middle of the Pizza Hut parking lot!!!

Little Miss Attitude

This morning at school, one of Bryton's girl classmates came over to us and showed us her pretty new sweatshirt and pink ball cap. Of course I made a big deal about them, saying how cute they were...when really she was only interested in Bryton's response, which was simply "they are nice."
Avery, on the other hand, put her hands on her hips and said, "ughhhh" 3 times in a low voice and turned around to face me w/ a scowl on her face (thank God the little girl was talking a mile a minute to Bryton and couldn't have cared less what Avery and I had to say) Bryton said to me, "why is Avery doing that? She isn't using her manners."
Avery and I had a little heart to heart, as we proceeded to walk out of the school. She kept her lower lip out as I talked to her about how she'd acted, but I hoped she was at least listening to what I was saying.
We pulled into our driveway, and she said "Wike (like) Pee-Po's (people's) hat. Wike Pee-Po's jacket, Mama."
So maybe we are making a little progress in the manners department?!

Thoughts

Have you ever noticed how much you "think" in the car? We've been traveling a lot over the past few weeks, and so I've had lots of time to think about various subjects. Then I wonder, "why am I thinking about this?!" Certain thoughts lead to other certain thoughts, which lead to others...and so on, I suppose. And then Brian will ask me, "What are you thinking about?" (because I'm quietly riding beside him, looking out the window, and saying nothing) I pick my most recent thought, ask "do you really want to know?!" and go with it...which can make for a very interesting conversation! Try it sometime, no matter how random your thoughts are (because mine tend to be very random)!

Congratulations, Brian!

Brian is finished testing for his NCARB (National Council of Architectural Registration Board) certification. He's passed all 9 exams! Now that he is certified, he can sign off on commercial projects. This is important, as the majority of his company's workload is commercial based.
So, Congratulations Brian...I know you are looking forward to celebrating this for the next couple of months, with multiple groups of people!!!

Tax Time

Uggghhh...I really dislike tax time. I can't remember ever "liking" tax time, to be honest. And why do we hurry to get ours done, I ask myself...we should wait until the last possible moment, as right now I'm not very happy w/ the IRS. And no, there really isn't much we can do to improve upon our situation as far as our tax's go this year...believe me, we've had our financial advisor try from all angles!
Groceries, gas, and healthcare are 3 things we seem to spend a lot of our money on, and they are 3 things that have gone up considerably nationwide over the past year. I'd imagine we are in the majority, as far as this spending is concerned. And maybe more people than I think are feeling a "crunch," just as we are, at tax time this year. I never thought we'd consider looking at a hybrid vehicle anytime soon...but maybe we should at least start entertaining the idea. Our grocery bill will only continue to increase w/ growing kids...and healthcare, well, thats another blog entry all together. So, I needed to officially complain about this, and I honestly feel better now that I have!

Routines

I don't truly appreciate our schedule/routine, 'til we are out of it for awhile! I have my sweet little girl back, who sings songs, says "oh my" when thing aren't going quite right (rather than whining), and says please and thank you more often than not. Its not that she was "bad" while we were in Florida, necessarily...Brian and I could just tell she wasn't acting like herself. I attribute that to a long car ride, having to share her mommy w/ others, being in a new place, and being out of her nap and bedtime routine. I don't think Avery will ever be an easy child...so I'm getting used to her ups and downs :)
Bryton is back into his school routine. This morning one of his friends was here before school and said "I don't like school, its boring." To which Bryton replied, "I like school. We have to go to school, so we have to like it!" And as usual, when I took him into the school this morning to stand in his class line...he said, "Bye Mom!" followed by an enthusiastic high five! I'm glad his first year of school is going so well. He's off to a great start!

New to This...

My goal is to use this as a type of Diary, so that I don't forget the little things that happen with my little people, from day to day.
Bryton and Avery are getting back into their routine, after a much needed trip to visit Jerod and fam. Of course I miss my sweet little buddies, Isaac and Samuel, but I find comfort knowing they are only States away now. As of this morning, Bryton and Avery were both ready to go back to Florida to see their cousins, Aunt, and Uncle, so their first long road trip must not have been too bad for them!
Bryton took a poster sized picture of he and Avery by an F-22 to school w/ him today, and proudly wore his F-22 tshirt. I heard "Awesome!" from the other kids, as I was leaving his classroom this morning...he was very anxious to show off his picture and tell his class about our trip!