A Few More Pics

We had a mini photo shoot in the backyard again. Brycen is asking to have one all the time now. I grab my camera and let the kiddos pose however they want. Of course, because these are just spur of the moment, they are not all cutesied up (if they are dressed at all - see the nice shot of the kids with Brooke in just her panties!). This time, dad was home. So, we pulled a bar stool out to the yard (Braden broke the tripod) and had a full family shot. We tried to get Kody in it, too, but he was so not interested.

The boys wanted to look serious. Brooke wasn't playing along.

Here is one of our little friends. They are so cool. If we are standing out there, they will fly around and you can see them zooming around your head.

So These Are the Days of our Lives...

This blog is about one of my many addictions. soap operas... It all started when I was pregnant with Brycen... no, let's back this up. It all started when I was born. My grandma, whom we lived with when I was born, was also a SO addict (and still is). She had four shows she watched on a daily basis. I think one was a half hour and the rest were full hour long shows, so if you also count her "resting her eyes" hour, Nicole and I had 4.5 hours to do anything we wanted and she didn't care as long as we didn't disturb her. Thankfully, we were pretty good kids. But instead of talking about normal kid things at the playground, we were discussing whether Erica Cane was going to get together with Adam Chandler or Jackson Montgomery and which one was Bianca's daddy. (http://abc.go.com/daytime/allmychildren/bios/61952_1.html) Or if Dixie and Tad were getting married or not. (Nicole, if you are reading this, I know you are totally laughing your butt off right now!) And when Robin was three or so, whenever she would give someone a kiss goodbye, she would say, "Oh, Nico!" very suggestively. So then I went off to school and didn't think twice about soap operas....


Until I was 6.5 months preggers with Brycen and I had to quit my job and Nick and I moved to the desert. I couldn't get another job until after I had Bry and I didn't know anyone in my new town AND it was hot as the trenches of hell in Lancaster during the summer. Soooooo, I sat my big pregnant butt on the couch and got caught up on all my soaps. I watched them all day long. It was great. When Bry was 2 months old, I got a job. It was a regular work during the day job, so I couldn't watch my soaps. (This was before the days of DVR.) When I went on maternity leave with Braden, I had a toddler to chase after, so I couldn't devote my entire day to soap operas. I had to make a choice. I picked Days of our Lives. I don't know what it was during those 6 weeks that got me so hooked. When I went back to work, I would try to take my lunch hour from 12:30 - 1:30 so I could watch my show. When Nick went back in the AF and I had to quit my job again, I was able to watch it whenever I could in between chasing the boys and running them to/from school and activities which was once a week if I was lucky.

Then one day.... we ordered DirecTV with DVR!!!! HEAVEN in a box! I can now record every single show and watch them whenever I please (like when the kids are in bed). The best part about it is that I can fast forward through all the commercials. Sometimes I save my soaps up. I'll not watch them at all during the week and then stay up until midnight one night getting caught up on all five. That way, when they leave you hanging at the end of the day with some suspense filled drama, I don't have to think about it all night (which I do!). I can just watch the next day's episode right then. LOVE IT!

Tomorrow I may fill you in on another one of my addictions. Maybe it will be the one that is sweet, soft and chewy that you eat... or the salty one that you keep the inside and throw away the outside. Hmmmmm........

MPF!!!

Arggghhhhh! Those of you not in the military does not know what MPF is. Honestly, I don't even know what the acronym stands for, but I can tell you it's where you get a new ID card. Recently on our base, MPF has stopped accepting walk-in customers. You must make an appointment. It's so bad that Nick's co-worker sent them an email to ask a quick question and they sent him an email back telling him that he must make an appointment for inquiries. WHAT?! Anyway, I called them last week because my ID was expiring. I told them what I needed and they asked me what date my card expired. I told them it expired on July 18th and he made my appointment for the 17th. We were there FOR-EV-ER! And, of course, I had the three kiddos with me. It was lovely. But, I did get my new ID card, so I can come home every night. Wait...... What was I thinking?! :-)

The other night when we did our little photo shoot in the backyard I took a pic that I just love now. Brooke did not have any pants on (What else is new?), but it is still awesome. And you can barely tell she was running around in the back field with just her panties on.

Splish Splash

Today we went to the Sprayground with some friends from MOPS. The boys had a ball from the time we got there. Brooke, on the other hand, was pretty reserved at first and did not want to get wet. About 15 minutes before we left, she found her groove and was sticking her head in the spray and sitting on them. She did not want to leave. Here are some pictures of the kiddos.

Pictures

I do not know how to post pictures to my blog, so this is my test.

Terry is turning 50 in a couple weeks and I want to make a nice picture collage for his office. I bought a black frame with a mat and room for three pictures. So far, I've choosen the pics I'm going to use for the boys... but I am torn over which one to use for Brooke.

And then I had to post just one of my handsome hubby.

Ouch! My Poor, Aching %#@!

Yesterday, the boys were begging us all day for an Icee from the Shoppette. We promised them that if they completed all their chores we would go. Well..... they finished their chores, Nick and I finished ours, AND we ate a ginormous dinner that needed to be worked off, so we decided to ride our bikes there. For those of you that do not know Columbus AFB and how far away the Shoppette is from our home, it's about a mile and a half. Not very far when you're on a bike. Brooke sat in her seat behind me and we were off. Braden couldn't stay on the side of the road and we looked back a few times to see him riding along the yellow dotted line in the middle of the road with cars lined up behind him. Only Braden...

Understandably, my bum was quite sore this morning. The boys wanted Taco Bell for lunch. Where is Taco Bell, you ask??? Right next to the Shoppette. So we got "back on the saddle" and off we went... again. I could tell right away that riding another three miles today was not going to be a great idea. Can I just say, "OUCH!" I think I'm going to stay off the bike for a few days.

On another note... we are going to paint the inside of the house. I think we are going to start with Brooke's room. I've already painted her toddler bed, which will going in her room when she wakes up from her nap in a few hours. We are going to paint it a pale, butter yellow. We may even attemp some verticle stripes 1" thick. The yellow stripes will be either 6" or 12". We haven't decided yet. I think it will look really nice with her black bed and pink accessories. As for the boys, we are going to sand and paint their bunk beds and dressor a really manly blue. Once that is done, we'll decide on what color we are going to put on the walls. Downstairs, we'll be painting it beige with maybe some accent walls. I think I want to try a faux finish in the downstairs bathroom. I've never done a faux finish before, but I figure it's the smallest room in the house, it only has one door, there are no windows, and if it ends up looking bad it will be snap to repaint it. Wish me luck!

Why, Oh Why???

Why do I fill our schedule with so many activities during the summer months? Isn't this supposed to be the time when we're supposed to be able to sleep in and lounge around in our jammers for half the day before lazily making out way to the pool?

I just woke up at 6am for the fifth time this week to take Brycen out to Caledonia for Summer Day Camp. When we get home, I have to get Braden dressed and ready and take him to Golf Camp. After I pick him up an hour later, we are having Brooke's friend, Drew, over for a playdate so him mommy can have some "me" time.

Enough wah, wah, wahs...

Brooke is so talkative lately. And her words are so clear. She is saying full sentences. Not just the ones that go, "I DO IT!", either. She told me the other day, "I put my shoes on!" She is singing her ABC's and counting to 10.

I meant to post this on Friday, but I hit "save" instead of "publish". Doh!!!

But Everyone Else is Doing It!

Blogging, that is. I've started this puppy... let's see if I can keep up with it.

I got this cool new camera and have not shared the awesome pics with anyone in the family yet. Hopefully, this will help me keep the family happy.