hand in hand

Brecken made something for me for Mother's Day at preschool and couldn't wait to show me- and it's wonderful! When he told me "I figured you would LOVE this, Mommy!" I told him he was right- I DO love it! Back at his Parent-Teacher conference, Miss Melody asked if I would leave my hand prints in paint. I forgot I even did that, until I saw my hand prints on my Mother's Day present! I love love love the X's and O's he drew on he hearts. :)

hello!

Welcome to the "new" blog. :)

new address

This blog is getting a new address very, very shortly. If you would like the new address, leave a comment here with your email address and I will email you the new address when we put it into effect. Hopefully this will solve a problem I encountered today and won't make me have to make the blog go private- I don't '*want* to do that but will if I need to- I will see how the new web address works first.

I have to approve all comments, so once I get your comment with your email address in it, I'll delete it so it's not posted on the web! :) As soon as the new address goes into effect, I'll send you the new info.

rhyme time

We took a drive this evening so I could find an "N" to finish up a photo project I've been working on. We drove out in the country and saw lots of cows. Brecken asked what cows eat- here is the rest of the conversation:

Me: Cows eat grass.
B: So do deer!
(a short time later...)
B: HEY! Cows and deer RHYME!
Me: Um, no, not quite. Rhyming means two words sound the same, like Cow and Pow.
B: No, Mommy. Cow and deer.
Me: No, like pear and tear.
B: NO! Those don't rhyme! Grass and sky rhyme!
Josh: No, buddy. It would be like sky and pie.
B: DADDY! NO! Car and house.

Boy, was he getting mad that we had "no idea" how rhyming works. HA! :)

party like a rockstar

What a great weekend! We had all of the Sandlian family over to celebrate Bryell's 1st birthday. What a fun time we had. Brecken had a BLAST playing with all his cousins. He is still talking about all the great times tonight! We had a wonderful time with everyone over.

sports and music

So many kids think they have to choose between sports and music.

My 3 year old son, however, already knows that he can do both at the same time.

He just told me, "If I sing while I run, it helps me run really fast!" And demonstrated by running around the house while singing the "ABC" song.

It's just one of the advantages of having a coach-dad and a music-mom, I guess. :)

planting a seed in a child's mind

I got this little garden thing for Brecken while we were in Chicago. He is always wanting to plant seeds (we have plenty of popcorn seeds in the snow...) and loves Curious George, so I thought this was perfect! We must check 12 times a day to see if anything has grown. I sure hope it does grow, because if not, I'll have one seriously sad little boy!

chicago

A few quick stories and a few pictures from our trip!





My grandma was put in the hospital a couple days before we flew out to Chicago. That was a bummer, because we didn't get to see her new apartment in the assisted living place she's in, and we didn't get to take her outside. :( We did visit her every day we were in Chicago though, which was good. It's been too long since we've seen her! I'm glad we were able to visit every day.


We traveled most of Tuesday. Our hotel was in the greatest location EVER- right downtown, a block off Michigan Avenue! We walked around Tuesday afternoon/evening and everything we wanted to eat was right there. :)





Wednesday we got up and went to the aquarium. It was a rainy day, and we got to the aquarium and about died at the size of the line. It was about a mile long, no joke. Luckily, they had an "accessible line" for strollers and wheelchairs, and boy, am I glad we brought the stroller that day. Even waiting in that much shorter line, it took us an hour to get in the aquarium! We didn't mind though, after we got to the ticket counter. It was going to cost us about $85 for the three of us to get in, but Josh asked if they had an educator discount and showed our teacher ID cards and all THREE of us got in for FREE! I was shocked. And very glad, because the aquarium was soooo crowded that day that I felt we didn't get $85 out of it! We had fun while we were there though. Brecken loves aquariums.

Thursday was a super fun day. We went to the children's museum! We were able to walk there from our hotel, and it only took about a half hour. Brecken had a blast while we were there. They had the most amazing rooms- a "move!" room where you could climb and rock and balance and feel and touch and run and jump. It was an occupational therapist's dream room! There was a water room where all you did was play with water items, a room to dig for dinosaur bones, an inventing room, an area to plaly checkers, bowl, make things out of clay, anything you could imagine. A few of the rooms were closed due to a school field trip occupying them, but we had PLENTY to see still!

Thursday night, we met up with my cousin Catie and went to a Bulls game! I've never been to an NBA game before. We had a great time! Thank you, Uncle Pudge, for letting us have your company's season tickets for the night! We had a great time!!! Catie, it was so great to see you!

Brecken cheering hard:

#16 is a Cheyenne East graduate!

Friday morning, Brecken woke up and the first thing he said was "What do we get to do today?" :) We didn't have anything too exciting planned, but we took him to lunch at the Rainforest Cafe and just did sightseeing and shopping all day.

Saturday was GORGEOUS outside! Our plane didn't leave until the evening so we packed up the car and took off on foot. We walked to the other end of Michigan Avenue, across the Chicago River, and up to Millennium Park.

Our reflection in the "Bean" sculpture- I had to take quite a few pictures to get us in the frame! :)

It was so nice out that we got Subway and ate a picnic outside at the park! We haven't been able to do that since last summer, so what a nice treat! Then we took our time walking back to the car to get to the airport. We had a great trip, and hopefully it won't be so long before we can go again!

reality

Back to it. Yuck. I hate the last day of vacation! I'm NOT looking forward to work tomorrow. I wish Josh and I would win the lottery so that our family can just travel and be together all the time- that's when we're at our best!

We had a wonderful time in Chicago and got back at 1:10 this morning. My wonderful husband got us home without falling asleep, which is more than I would have been able to do. I tried so hard to stay awake with him but did a bit of dozing the last 40 or so miles. Brecken was asleep before we got a mile away from the hotel where we had parked our car. :)

We had a great trip. Today after I get myself moving, I'll get some pictures posted, along with some stories.

a hunting we will go...

Egg hunt day! We had two in Saratoga that we went to. Here's what it looked like outside on the way to the first one:

Wyoming kids grow up tough, since they have to put up with this junk at Easter! :) Luckily, just as the hunt was about to start, the snow went away and the sun came out. It was still gale-force winds, but at least we didn't have the flying snow to contend with, too.

The second one, this afternoon, wasn't much warmer. No blowing snow, but soooo windy still. Brecken had a great time and asked when we can go to the next one. :)

perfect day

Brecken was playing with his toy truck and trailer with the cows that go inside it this evening, and all of a sudden the birds started chirping outside. He looked up in surprise and said, "Hey! I hear birds!" Then got that big ol' glint in his eyes (if you know him, you know the one... he can't hide it!) and a grin on his face. He looked down and continued playing, and without looking at Josh and *just* loud enough for Josh to hear, said, "Hmmm... it's the perfect day to go golfing."

I about made my stomach hurt from holding my laughter in.

Never mind the 30 mph winds, the 20 degree air temp, and the blizzard we had this morning. :)

"aren't they so bootiful??"

That's what the B-man asked while gazing at his wonderful eggs we colored this evening. :)

soon

"DADDY! The snow melted off the grass and that means it's almost springtime and in springtime we can go GOLFING, and it's almost springtime because the snow is melting so hurry, Daddy, HURRY! Get the golf cart! We can drive it to the golf course because we have to go golfing because the snow melted off the grass and that means it's almost springtime and we can go GOLFING during springtime! Hurry, Daddy, we have to go right now because it will be springtime when we get to the golf course!"

That's what was shouted at our house last night. Too bad it was 7:00 in the evening and we had to tell B that, no, he could not go golfing right this second, and just because we can see our grass does not mean the golf course is ready to be played on yet. The poor boy had his heart broken last night.

Soon, buddy... soon.

(and guess where Daddy and B will be spending all their time this summer? I've already been told: "NO GIRLS ALLOWED, MOMMY. Just me and Daddy.")

it's because his daddy was valedictorian

We had our first parent/teacher conference as parents today. It was a bit odd to be on the other side of it! I wasn't sure what to expect- B is the youngest in his class so I kind of told myself we'd be hearing about how he's a bit behind.

Quite the opposite! His teacher said he's one of the smartest in his class! What a great thing to hear. She said he's a wonderful student, he never whines or complains, always tries to do his best, is very friendly, and a great kid overall. (And she wasn't lying about being one of the smartest!) She showed us his portfolio of work she has collected over the months and we could see how much he has improved with coloring in the lines and cutting. She had an end of the year evaluation (even though there's still two months of school) and he scored 47/50! I know he could have scored higher because one of the things on there was identifying letters, and I work with him on that at home and he can recognize all but 8 letters when we do it. At school, he only got about half of the letters. Must have been an off day. :) 47/50 is awesome though, and we are very proud of him! He has two more years of preschool; we *could* start him in Kindergarten when he's 4 turning 5 because he beats the cutoff date, but unless he turns out to be a genius, we will keep him out of K until he is 5 turning 6. (I have taught young K's before, and let me tell you- it's not a lot of fun. They just aren't ready to sit all day and listen and learn! K is NOT playtime anymore! It's amazing the demands on such little guys.) So, two more years of preschool. We discussed keeping him in the 3 year old class next year or moving him to the 4 year old class where he will be for two years. His teacher said what I had been thinking- she's afraid he would get too bored in the 3 year old class next year so we will be moving him to the 4 year old class next fall. She said she's rather challenge him in that class, than get bored in the other.

She said she loves having Brecken, and we said we think we got lucky with such a great kid. She said "You may have a bit of luck, but I think it's more that you've done a great job parenting". SA-WEET!

Hopefully the next 15 years of conferences go just as well. :)

small fry

Josh and I took Brecken to Laramie yesterday, to the pediatrician. The pediatrician we saw was a girl I went to high school with- weird to see her as a full-fledged pediatrician now! She was great. We took B there to get checked out since he doesn't seem to be growing, we just wanted to make sure he doesn't have anything medically wrong with him. She checked him out, took some history, and declared that she's pretty sure he's just a small fry. That's OK with me as long as there is nothing wrong with him! Phew! :) He weighed in at a whopping 28 pounds and that actually put him ON the percentile chart for the first time since he was about 6 months old! He's sitting nice and strong between the 3rd and 5th percentile. Impressive. :) Dr. H gave us the chart print out and told us to hang it on our fridge. :)

While there, I got my 6-month follow-up liver CT scan done. Might as well kill two birds with one stone, as long as I'm in town and taking a half a sick day. I'm sure everything is fine, but my mind is a pro at playing mind games. I mean, it's really, really good at it. The radiology tech told me the image would be up on the computer (that doctors can access) an hour after my scan was done, and the written report within 48 hours. I would assume that would mean that if something was terribly wrong, the radiologist would call my doctor who would then in turn call me. Otherwise, a letter would be sent to my doctor, who would then mail me one. I wondered all day long today if I had a message on my phone (my phone doesn't get service at work). I could call from school to my phone and check, but I was afraid there would be a message on there, which probably means bad news since it was so fast. I didn't want to get bad news at work, so I didn't check my messages. I had myself so worked up by the time I got back to cell service that I was afraid to turn on my cell phone! I did though, and NO MESSAGE!!! Hooray! I'm telling myself that means there isn't any change and they'll send me a letter! (And I keep reminding myself that my blood test in November came back TOTALLY OK! It's those mind games- have to keep myself in check.)

We woke up to a snowstorm this morning. 6 inches or so on the ground when I got up and by the time I left Encampment, another 6-8 inches had fallen. Story of our lives the past week or so- one day we walk to the park and play with light jackets on, the next day we have a snowstorm. Ahh, spring in Wyoming!

libby

all she can talk about

Guess who gets to meet her Aunt Kara this weekend? That's right!! LIBBY! According to Kristen, all Libby can talk about is getting to meet me. She's ready to look gorgeous for her newborn photos and let her Aunt Kara mess with her with hats and blankets and bean bags and all sorts of fabulous stuff. I'm so glad she's so excited! Be looking for photos soon!!!

libby diane

Usually calls at 2:00 am are never a good thing- but the one I got this morning was a beautiful call! My new niece, Libby Diane, was born this morning at 1:27, weighing in at 6 pounds even, and 19 inches long. (and if you're wondering, Diane is my mom's middle name!) So far, according to everyone who has seen her in real life and not just pictures, she doesn't look much like Brooklyn did, but a lot like Ryan did instead! Size-wise, Libby and Ryan are similar too: Ryan was 5 lbs, 7 oz while Brooke was a chunk at almost 8 pounds! Welcome to the world, little Libby! I can't wait to meet you next weekend- I hope you are ready for my camera and all the fun stuff I bought for you too look beautiful with!

Ryan after he was born- June 2006:

Brooke after she was born- July 2008

Libby after she was born- March 2010

no longer strangers

We spent the weekend as a FAMILY, and boy, was it nice!! I took Friday off of work, and Thursday night, the 3 of us headed up to Casper for the weekend. We took in quite a few basketball games, but we got to sit TOGETHER instead of Brecken and I across the gym from Josh! We spent time swimming at the hotel, shopping at the mall, eating meals and taking our time, and it was great. We had so much much fun that Brecken asked if we could stay another week instead of going home this morning. :) He is one tired boy though- he fell asleep at 5:30 tonight! I hope he doesn't wake up at midnight ready to party!!

My grandma is doing better. Thank you for the thoughts. She was moved from her independent living apartment in the retirement buildling she lived in, to an assisted living apartment in another building in Chicago a couple weeks ago. The move was against her will but she desperately needs the help. She is 92 years old and has dementia and needs more help than the caretaker that comes every couple hours can give her. She was in her new apartment for a day or two and then was hospitalized with pneumonia. Last Tuesday, while still in the hospital, she suffered to mild heart attacks. (Yes, the same day.) They really didn't konw she had them until they ran tests on her because she said her chest was hurting. However, she rebounded and was moved out of ICU this weekend, I believe. She's still in the hospital, but it's not an emergency like it was last week. I do believe, however, that she is on the downward hill so it's a good thing we have a trip planned out there starting April 6.

It was such a beautiful day out today, it felt just like spring. However, as I write this, I looked outside and the fattest snowflakes are blowing around. Typical Wyoming spring weather...

gram

If you can spare some prayers and good thoughts, we need them for my Grandma who lives in Chicago. She's not doing well right now and nobody knows which direction it's going to go, but it's to the point where we are now wondering if she will make it long enough for us to visit in a month as planned. :(

hello, stranger... i am your wife!

Basketball season is officially over. We went with Josh and his boys to the Regional tournament Wednesday night-Saturday. The boys easily won their pigtail game to get into the tournament on Thursday morning, then lost Thursday evening. They had to win Friday morning to stay in the tournament, and after a VERY exciting game, they won! They lost on Saturday morning though, so that meant they were done and did not make it into the State tournament. As much as I am glad to have my husband home after school for the first time since August, I will tell you that I had tears in my eyes after Saturday's game. :( I REALLY wanted them to make it to State!

Thursday's pigtail game was one of inspiration. They played Shoshoni, who had to forfeit their last several games this season because of injuries, and who only had seven kids dressed out Thursday morning. Two of those were wrestlers that did not make it to State Wrestling and were added to the basketball roster on Tuesday. You could tell who they were by the way they played. But those 7 kids NEVER gave up. They lost, 59-10, but they never once stopped playing as hard as they could. How awesome is it for kids to step up to help their team so the team could play, even though odds were completely against them for a win? Our crowd cheered as hard for that team as we did for our own.

Brecken had a blast, of course. He got to ride the bus sometimes with the boys, he got lots of gym time in, and he got to go swimming at the hotel. He LOVES hotels. He had several nights of really late bedtimes, no naps, lots of activities, and he was sooo good until it was time to go home, and then his exhaustion set in and had a meltdown. I'm a lucky mom though, to have such a good boy in those circumstances for that long! Josh's boys are so good to Brecken- they give him lots of attention and one of the boys even spent a long time having races down the hall and back at the hotel with Brecken. How great is that for a freshman boy to do?!

Even though the team didn't make it to State, Josh has a meeting there still this weekend so B and I are going to go with him Thursday after school. We'll watch basketball TOGETHER on Friday without Josh having to do anything! Brecken and I are both looking forward to Daddy time. Josh loves coaching though, which in turn makes me happy that he's doing what makes him happy. I'm a lucky person to have such a wonderful husband. :)

and we're off

to Regionals! We leave tomorrow evening. Brecken helped me pack his suitcase tonight so we can be ready after school! The teams are having a carry-in dinner after practice and then loading up and we'll all take off. Wish the boys (and girls!) luck! My Tigers from school, too!

end of an era

We said goodbye and good luck to Josh's 6 seniors on his team this year. Today was Senior Day, their last home game ever. Next week is Regionals, followed by State, but it was the last time they'd play together on their home court. Austin, Joe, Nate, Paul, Sam, and Ben, it has truly been a pleasure watching you play ball for SHS- there is some amazing talent in this group of seniors and they will definitely be missed next year!

sweet dreams

I've always wondered what Brecken dreams about. If we ask, he never can remember. Or, he tells us, "I dreamed about waking up." I'm not sure he knows how to put his dreams into words yet. I got a glimpse of his dreams this morning though. I heard him talking in his sleep. Here's what he said:

"I want the one with sprinkles!"

Leave it to my son to dream about donuts. :)

a great day

Brecken had such a great day today- he got to ride on the school bus, and watch one of Daddy's games! B and I hopped on the bus this afternoon to travel with the tream to Walden, CO. It's about an hour away from Saratoga. It was a great game to watch- Josh's boys won by 21 points! (They beat Encampment by 29 last night!) Then we got to get back on the bus to come home. Brecken had a BLAST. I can't remember when the change happens, from loving the bus so much, to not thinking it's exciting at all. Hopefully not for a while, since I think B will be riding them a lot in his future. :)

No more than 3 weeks left of basketball. Next weekend is the last set of home games. The weekend after is Regionals. If they make it to State, it will be the first weekend in March. There is light at the end of the tunnel! Perhaps then, we can breathe a bit. And maybe my house will be clean again. :)

out of the mouths of little squirts

Yesterday, Brecken asked me if I could pull his toes. I asked him why, and here was his response.

Are you ready for it?

"So I can get taller!!"


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

full of heart

Amy's dad is no longer on the transplant list- he got his heart!! He went into surgery on Wednesday night and after 19 hours of surgery, got settled into the ICU. Part of that 19 hours was the surgeons having to go back in a couple times to stop bleeding, but he now is resting and the doctors are happy with how he's doing. So far, no signs of rejection- pray that this continues so he can recover and use that new heart to the fullest!

word games

I wanted to get a picture of Brecken to use in some Valentine cards today. I told him this morning we needed to find something to wear that was Valentine-y. He said, "I KNOW!", ran to his room, and came back with this itty bitty baby shoe. He held it up and proudly exclaimed, "THIS is tiny!" It took me a minute to realize what he meant- to him, I said "Valen tiny". That shoe definitely was tiny! I had to try to explain what I meant, which didn't go over very well, so I had to start calling it "Valentine-ish". :)

milk- it does a body good

Brecken had his cup of milk sitting next to him tonight. If he even reached his arm out half way, he could pick it up. He said, "Mommy, can you pass me my milk please? I can't reach." I told him there was no way I could reach it, and was right there NEXT to it so he could get it himself. He said, "I can't reach." "Neither can I!" I replied. "Try", he told me. So I did. Yup, couldn't reach. So he says,

"Here! I'll pass it to you!"

And he did- passed it right to me, so I could reach, and pass it to him. What a commedian.

tag, you're it

That's about what it's been around our house the past week and a half! And I think it might continue this week, too. Josh and I take turns being home and being gone... keeps us on our toes, that's for sure! Last Thursday night, I had to stay at school late to run the concession stands for a middle school basketball game. Friday morning, Josh left for an overnight basketball trip to Kemmerer and Big Piney. He got home Saturday night, I left Sunday for All-State in Cheyenne and got home Wednesday. Next week, I have parent-teacher conferences in the evening on Wednesday and Thursday, while Josh has football stuff to do on Thursday night as well. Perhaps, just maybe, after next week we'll be able to remember what each other looks like. :)

In addition, Josh has won the Father of the Year award this past week. In my eyes, anyway! Our babysitter is still gone, and on Monday of this past week, our backup babysitter's kids got sick and were throwing up. Josh took Tuesday afternoon off, but had to bring Brecken to work with him on Wednesday all day (no preschool due to them having meetings) and Thursday afternoon after preschool. Brecken always amazes me- he was so good for Josh and no teaching the kids was sacrificed. Thank goodness for the invention of personal DVD players and lots and lots of snacks. :) What troupers, both of them!

Josh got pretty hurt at practice on Tuesday night. He was working drills with the kids and one of the boys jumped high and hard and his knee landed in Josh's ribs. He thought a couple might be broken, but the doctor here in town thinks they're probably just pretty dang bruised. Poor guy can hardly walk, his back is really, really stiff. Hopefully he will heal soon- I don't like that he is so hurt! I felt incredibly bad that I was still at my conference on Tuesday night when it happened- I couldn't be home to help him out with Brecken. :( I'm glad B is at the age now where he can be more independent and doesn't need lifted into the car seat anymore, that helped a lot.

Last night, my school staff had our "Christmas" party. We have it after Christmas, when things have slowed down (for everyone except me, I think. ha!). Josh did not have a basketball game last night, so he was able to come! I think it's the first Christmas party we've made since we moved here! :) It was held in a beautiful cabin in Riverside ("suburb" of Encampment) and Brecken stayed home with a babysitter. We got home and he was snuggling with her in a recliner, watching cartoons- I love that he snuggled with someone that wasn't Mom or Dad!!

B and I are headed to Hanna in a little bit to watch Josh's game. I really enjoy having away games that are close enough for us to go watch! :)

I realize that I haven't posted very many pictures of B lately- I'll try to fix that soon. :)

I heard a rumor that Amy's dad is now first on the transplant list. While it makes me so sad that someone has to die to give that heart, it makes me incredibly happy that it might give Amy's dad new life. Please continue praying for them!

my hero of a husband

Just as Josh texted to say he was in Rawlins on his way home from the trip, the pager went off for the ambulance to respond to a possible heart attack. I immediately texted Josh back, because he is the only one in town that is fully certified for cardiac. He got on the phone with the police department while I listened to the scanner, to see if they needed him. They do, so the bus is going to meet the ambulance at some determined meeting spot, where he will get off the bus and onto the ambulance and make his way back to Rawlins. Poor guy- long day for him, but I'm glad he'll be able to help out. Qualified EMTs are hard to come by where we live, and Advanced Intermediates are even harder. Josh. He's the one and only. There are a two other Intermediates, I think, but he's the only Advanced one. Makes me sad for the people in our valley because they don't have enough people to respond to them if something happens. :( As annoyed as I get when Josh is getting call after call and has to go, I'm glad he's there TO go, because if it were me, I'd sure want someone coming to my rescue. I'm glad he was on this side of Rawlins so he could meet the ambulance tonight.

my son, the funny one

This morning:

"Mom, can you do me a favor? Put away my toys."

I laughed out loud at him, to which he responded: "It's OK, they can stay right there."

HA!

We're almost done with Josh's second overnighter of the season- they went to Kemmerer and Big Piney this weekend. I definitely like home games better. :) I asked Brecken if he wanted to go to Encampment today to see their homecoming game, and he decided he wanted to stay home with me. I couldn't even bribe him with the concession stand at school- he didn't seem to care that there was popcorn and root beer there. I even asked if he wanted to go to Rawlins to see a movie this afternoon, pulled up the trailer for "The Princess and the Frog" and he giggled at it, but then said, "No thanks. I want to stay home with you". So, I guess we will be staying home this afternoon! :)

I'm off to Cheyenne tomorrow afternoon for the All-State convention. I look forward to it every year but hate leaving my boys at home. :( I didn't get to see much of Josh Thursday, then he left Friday, won't get home until late late tonight, and then I leave tomorrow and won't be home until Wednesday. We're kind of playing tag with each other for Brecken- "Tag, you're it- see you in a few days!"

babysitter bind

We got a call from Mary on Friday night, saying they had to go to Indiana all of a sudden this weekend for a funeral. They are going to be gone until Jan. 22. Panic started setting in, because as most of you know, backup daycare in this town is not an option. LUCKILY, Josh called a gal we know, the wife of a guy he teaches with. She has a 1 year old son and stays home with him, and she was gracious enough to take Brecken in for the next two weeks after preschool. Brecken has met her a couple times, but we went over to their house for lunch today (Thanks, Val and Jared!) and played a little, so he knew her house, and knew her when she goes to pick Brecken up from school tomorrow. She's a very energetic person, and her son has lots of toys, and Brecken had fun playing there. Hopefully he'll do OK with her picking him up from school tomorrow! Brecken also had a fun time playing with her baby. Her "baby" is as big as Brecken, however- they wear the same size clothes and weigh the same. :) Brecken loves babies though, and had fun "chasing" him and letting him chase Brecken. It was fun to watch them play.

We heard from our favorite babysitter ever, Amy, recently. Her dad is not doing well and is now on the heart transplant list. Her mom and dad moved to Salt Lake City for the time being. Please pray for him to receive a new heart soon, and pray for Amy because I know it's so hard on her to not be here anymore. We did receive a photo Christmas card from them in the mail before Christmas, and once I showed it to Brecken, he got all excited to see his 3 buddies again- Harrison, best buddy Dylan, and "Pooper", as he calls Cooper. He just gazed and gazed at that card with a smile plastered on his face, all the way up the hill from the post office to our house. It made me cry- he misses his buds and Amy sooo much. He asks about them literally every day!

We finally took the Christmas tree down today. We waited a while because we had Christmas here with Josh's family over New Year's. After that, work and practice started again and didn't have time until today! Last week was a very busy week, for sure. Josh even had his whole team over to the house for dinner Thursday night, and then was home for games this weekend against Wyoming Indian and Wind River. The scores didn't turn out in our favor, so I won't be elaborating. :)

This past week also marked 2 years of actively trying to conceive another baby. Before that was several months of not really preventing, but January 2008 we made it "official". Silly me, I thought it surely couldn't take as long for baby #2 as it did to get pregnant with Brecken... Ha! *sigh*

new post

Over on the photo blog! We had so much fun- we couldn't quit laughing when people kept falling down into the snow!!

santa came!

We had a fabulous Christmas. My mom and dad made it on the 23rd, just ahead of the blizzard we had. Christmas Eve was spent in the kitchen baking up a storm! We made cookies, divinity, pies, all sorts of tasty stuff. We went to church that evening and then came home to set out cookies and milk for Santa before Brecken headed to bed. My sister and her family made it here just after 10:00 that night. The above picture was taken before church on Christmas Eve. It was the first time in months Brecken has put on "real" pants- and of course, thy didn't last. We ended up at church with him in sweatpants. But hey- they were brown and matched the fleece shirt he's wearing- and I'm amazed the shirt stayed on and he wasn't wearing a t-shirt in addition to his sweatpants! :) I don't know why he wanted the hat on in this picture. I didn't ask. :)

Christmas morning was fun-filled as usual! Brecken loved his presents. Santa brought him a big boy bike! (excuse the fingerprints that are apparently on the lens of my small camera- That's the camera Brecken uses. :) )

Santa also brought a sled, a book, a bucket full of dinosaurs, a super cool stick horse that makes horse sounds when the ears are pushed, Candy Land, and a few other small things in his stocking. One of the other presents that he got that was a favorite was this HUGE stuffed dinosaur. My mom and dad gave it to him. It takes up quite a lot of Brecken's bed when he wants to snuggle with the dino at bedtime! It is a brontosaurus, but Brecken named him "Pterodactyl". :) He also got the movie "Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas". So far, we have watched it four times. TODAY. About 10 times total.

Josh made a delicious prime rib for Christmas dinner and we had all the fixin's- we were quite stuffed!

We took Brecken up to Josh's school yesterday so he could ride his big-boy bike down the hallways and in the lunch room. Our house is just too small to ride it inside, and with all the snow we got over the weekend, there will be no bike riding outside for quite a while! Good thing he got a sled, too. :)

Now all our company is gone, in time to wash sheets for the next set of company coming! We are doing Christmas with the Sandlians over New Year's.

letter to santa

Brecken's preschool teachers helped the kids write letters to Santa. They were sent home today, as today was the last day of school for the year. Here's what Brecken's said:

"Dear Santa Claus,
Ho, ho, ho. I would like a dump truck and a dirt bike. I need a fishing pole because my other one is green and blue. Daddy needs a bike. Mom needs a bike. Merry Christmas!

Love,
Brecken"

And Santa wrote back!

"Dear Brecken,
Ho ho ho to you also. That is my favorite thing to say! What is your favorite thing to say? I was in Saratoga the other night for the parade and I had an awesome time. I got to see the lighted floats, meet with the children and also I got to eat some good chili at the Community Center.

The elves have been making a lot of toys this year. They are making a lot of trucks. Trucks are their favorite things to make and they make all different kinds. We have made a lot of fishing poles too. We make fishing poles in every color. Do you like to fish? We only get to ice fish here at te North Pole. Ice Fishing is fun too.

The reindeer are outside playing reindeer games. I think they are playing tag. Tag is a good game for them to play because they have to run a lot and that gets them in shape for the long trip we take on Christmas eve.

Be good and I will see you on Christmas eve.

Love,
Santa"

this little light of mine

And I'm gonna let it shine!!

Brecken came home from preschool the other day with a present and wiggling with excitement. He made it for Josh and I at school that day, and it was wrapped with hand-painted wrapping paper. I asked if we should put it under the tree but he could not wait for us to open it, so as soon as I got home with him, he opened it for me. :) And inside was this gorgeous, beautiful candle holder with a candle inside. It's the prettiest candle in our house. He had glued tissue paper to the glass holder so it looks like stained glass when the candle is lit. He told me, "Mommy! I made it just for you and it TURNED OUT!" Oh, how I love that boy. And YES. I will let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

snack time

I'm going to have to have Josh ask Brecken's teachers tomorrow when he drops Brecken off, what they had for snack today. Here's the answer I got when I asked B this afternoon. Are you ready for it?



RAMEN NOODLES.


Um.... really? Pretty sure not! But I asked him about 3 more times throughout the afternoon and evening, and got that answer every time. That's what he told Josh too. Hmmm.... some clarification might be needed. Not that I mind.... I just am highly doubting that snack time with 16 3-year-olds was Ramen noodles. :)

letter from the liver doctor

Finally, some results from my blood test.

"Dear Kara,
It was a pleasure to see you at our Fort Collins office. Your lab tests were normal. Sill consisted with focal nodular hyperplasia. Please call me if you have any unexplained symptoms. I do recommend a follow up ultrasound in 6 months. If you have any questions, please call."

PHEW!

o christmas tree

Yesterday was our hunt for a tree. We ended up on the other side of Encampment this year, and found that the assortment of trees over there is much better than on the Snowy Mountain Range, where we usually go! We got home with a great tree. Sometimes, we get the tree home and realize that it's pretty ugly- the wrong shape, a big bare spot, not a nice triangle, etc. This year, we were pretty proud of ourselves! (Though I can't take much credit. I mostly took pictures while Josh did all the work. Wait. Not mostly, I guess. That's ALL I did. :) )

Brecken mostly stood around and cried. He didn't want his snow pants on. Hey- at least he loves his boots this week. Even asked to sleep in them the other night. Unlike a couple weeks ago...

He was shouting, "NO! I don't want my picture!!"

it's begun

Basketball season, that is. It actually started a few weeks ago, but this weekend opened up GAME season! Josh's team played in the Carbon County Classic this weekend, in Encampment. They beat Hanna last night, lost to Baggs this morning, and then won against Cokeville this afternoon! 2-1, not a bad start to the season. They were really fun to watch. I've always enjoyed watching the Saratoga boys team, they play really well together and it's just fun. I'm not sad that Josh made the switch from girls this year! I also had forgotten how much faster boys games are. No fouls every other play, not NEARLY as many jump balls.... it's way more fast-paced, which I think is what makes it so much fun to watch!!

Brecken did really well at the games. I made sure to sit where he had some room to move, and also packed his backpack full of books, coloring books, crayons, cars, etc. Between all those things, I was able to keep him occupied pretty well. :)

Tonight we went to the Christmas parade downtown. No pictures though, because it was so.cold that I didn't dare take my gloves off to get the camera out! Brecken was bundled up in his sweats, his snow pants, boots, gloves, hat, and coat, sitting under a sleeping bag. He enjoyed the parade but was glad to get back in the warm car and head home!

Tomorrow we plan to go cut down our Christmas tree- then I can get presents wrapped and put under it!

the best of intentions

Every year, I have the best of intentions to get my Christmas cards sent out early. And it seems that every year, they get sent out at the last minute again! I *might* make my goal this year- I took my cards with me on my trip with my high school kids last week before Thanksgiving so I could work on them. :) Teachers have nothing to do during those two days, and I did make a pretty good dent in card-addressing. (In between trips downtown, the Union Bookstore, etc.... Hey- Laramie has stores to shop in and Saratoga really does not, so I had to take advantage of it! :) )

I have discovered, however, that too many people in my address book MOVE! You should see the list of people I need new addresses from since last Christmas!! Ridiculous! hehe. If you read this and I need a new address for you from last year, will you please leave a comment on here with your new address? Then I'll delete your comment instead of posting it, so rest assured, your address will not be floating around cyberspace. :) If you aren't on my list and you would like to be, give me your address too!

peace and quiet

I'm pretty sure my parents threw a party today after all their company left- for the sole reason that they were once again in peace and quiet. We had a noisy weekend full of fun, but I'm sure it's hard to have your normally-quiet-and-clean house ransacked by 7 people, 3 of whom are children and noisy and messy. :)

Ryan and Brecken had a great time playing these past 4 days. Perhaps I should say they had a great time playing most of these past 4 days. One minute they'd be playing and having a great time- playing cars, playing chase, playing wrestling, making barns out of every single one of my mom's couch cushions in order to watch cartoons without anyone bothering them... and then the next minute would be an all out fight.

"She's MY grandma."
"NO! She's MY grandma!"
"NO! SHE'S MY GRANDMA AND NOT YOURS!"

(or something to that effect. That wasn't the only fight, belive me- there were others about who said what first, going back and forth between "NO!" "YES!" a hundred times about things they had no idea why they were saying no or yes, the color of the sky.... whatever you can dream up, they probably fought over it!)

But tonight when we got home, Brecken asked if Ryan could come over tonight to play.

Oh the joys of having two 3-year olds in the same house for extended periods of time. :)

think he's excited?

Brecken: Come on, Mommy. Let's go to Gillette!

Me: We can't go yet, Daddy is still at work!

Brecken: Then let's go without him!!

gobble gobble

We're off on vacation today. In the past seven nights, I have slept in my own bed twice! We were in Lingle last weekend, and then I left at 5:40 in the morning on Monday to take some of my high school kids to Laramie for an honor choir. We got home last night. My kids did great and had a lot of fun. My seniors got me flowers! I have no idea why- I certainly haven't done anything! The girl who gave them to me said it was because it was their last year at District Clinic. I told her I could fix that- a flunking grade in English would surely make them come back next year, right? I certainly don't want to lose my seniors- they are wonderful.

Today, after Josh gets done with school and practice at 2:00, we're headed to Gillette for Thanksgiving. The whole family will be there, it will be a full house, that's for sure! I'm very much looking forward to the turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy! We will have to be careful to call the turkey "chicken" so we have a chance of Brecken eating it.

Time to get the dogs off to the kennel and get some laundry done before we leave. Josh and Brecken have school today and I do not- it's a weird feeling!

a great man

A very wise man sought me out on my wedding day, and told me to call him if my groom needed reminded of how to be a good husband. He said he made sure all the boys in his family knew how to treat their wife. I promised him I'd call if I needed to. I've never had to.

That great man left us last week and made the journey to Heaven. As we celebrated his life this weekend, I had the feeling that that great man was looking down on us, admiring all the work he did in his life. His Greatness was left behind in everyone he touched- his beautiful bride of 57 years, his children, nieces, nephews, sisters, brothers, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. His Greatness was left behind in anyone who had the extreme honor of ever meeting him. It's evident in all he did- not many people are elected as County Clerk for 25 years in a row.

I'm grateful that I had the chance to know him, even if it was just a little tiny bit.

To his beautiful bride of 57 years, I cried when I found out he was a devoted reader of my silly little stories on here. I was and still am truly amazed. I hope I can keep it up so you can carry on the daily readings- and I will try to update more often so there aren't as many mornings with no news. :)

Yes, a great man has left us. But you can be sure his Greatness lives on.

second opinion

Josh and I went to Cheyenne today, to a gastroenterologist, to get a second opinion on my liver. He said he is sure the radiologist is correct that it's a benign growth of cells, and sees no reason to worry about it at all. He is sending me for bloodwork to make sure it doesn't pick up any abnormalities, but he said he would be shocked if anything showed up. What a relief to hear. Now if that annoying feeling in my side would go away, I'd be a happy camper. :)

He said liver issues in women could be caused by the use of birth control pills, and could be made bigger by pregnancy, but he sure wouldn't not go ahead and have another baby because of it. These growths don't be come dangerous, really, so if it did get bigger for some reason, it wouldn't be really bad. Who knows- maybe it was caused by being pregnant in the first place, and we never knew it! (pretty sure it's not because of birth control pills since I've been on those for maybe a total of a whole year in my whole life!) He also agreed with the radiologist that I should have another CT Scan in 6 months, but if I was pregnant at that time, it was fine to put it off until after a baby was born.

Brecken spent the day (well, half of it anyway) with my sister again, for the second time this week. We are very grateful that my sister lives where we always end up going, because it's great to drop him off and not have to bring him to the doctor. So, thanks, Kristen!!! We really, really appreciate you!!!

the naughty one

Brecken has had a rough week at school. It's been freezing cold, and for some reason, they are still taking the kids outside for recess. (Even our kids at school this week have had inside recess!) We've been asked to bring snowpants and all that good ol' winter gear so they can go out. Brecken HATES things around his toes. He refuses to wear socks, even. But this week, he has been refusing to wear his snowboots. As a result, he has had to stay inside for recess. Which means there is one less adult body outside with all the other kids, since someone has to stay in with him.

I think his teachers aren't very pleased with us. They even asked our babysitter to talk to us about ideas we could use on him. I have one stubborn child though, and I'm not sure what to do. I DID have him help me pick out new boots online tonight, and I ordered them two sizes too big so they are loose around his feet, like his beloved Crocs, which are the the only shoes he will wear. He got to pick out whatever boots he wanted to tonight and he declared the ones he picked "Perfect!" Hopefully he will still think they are perfect when they arrive in the mail, and hopefully he will wear them at school.

I cried tonight after we got home. I don't want my child to be the one who won't listen and gets in trouble. I'm hoping, in a very weird way, that he's getting sick. I don't want him to be sick, but I want there to be a reason that he is not listening very well this week. It's not like him to be naughty- he's normally a very easy-going kid! (and tonight he fell asleep at 6:30.... maybe he's overly tired this week?) I'm hoping this is a trend that will be over SOON, and I hope his teachers know that we really are working on the listening thing at home, and that we don't put up with naughty! We are both teachers- we know how hard it is to have naughty kids, so we aren't going to let our child be one of them! Surely, they know how 3-year olds act, right? I now believe people when they say 3 is worse than the terrible 2's.... its soooooo very true in our house!

Come on, age of 4....

faces of the past

Brecken picked up a picture we have, of my whole family at my sister's wedding in 2004. It was only five years ago, but we all must have changed more than I realized. The only people in the picture Brecken could recognize were Daddy and his Grandpa (my dad). I asked where I was, and he couldn't find me. And he couldn't find Aunt Kristen. Or Grandma. Or anyone else I asked about. When I helped him identify these people, we had the following conversation:

B: Where's Ryan?
Me: He isn't there, because he wasn't born yet!
B: Where's me?
Me: You weren't born yet either.
B: But where was I?
Me: Nowhere, really, you weren't alive yet.
B: Was I at Kristen's house?
Me: No, buddy, you weren't. You weren't alive yet, so you weren't anywhere.

It's hard to explain to a 3 year old why he isn't in a picture with all the people he loves!

ideas for brecken

I've been getting a few people ask what Brecken wants for Christmas, so here are a few ideas:

• He is still into dinosaurs- dino shirts, dino toys, dinos in general.
• He loves to play games but we only have a few. We already have Elefun- don't get him that one. He plays Flippin' Frogs and Hungry Hungry Hippos at daycare but we don't have them yet- he would like those.
• He loves to do artwork.
• He is a Croc lover- that's all he will wear. Shoe size right now is an 8.
• Shirt/sweatshirt size is 3T.
• Pants size is 2T, but he only wears sweatpants. He will not wear anything else. They can't be the sweatpants that have the elastic around the ankles either- they have to be the wide leg kind. He is very picky about his clothes.
• He really wants purple athletic shorts like Daddy's, if anyone happens to find some!!
• He loves loves loves to read.
• He loves his movies too- Noggin/Nick Jr. ones are the best because they have shorter episodes- full length movies don't hold his interest. Favorites right now are Diego, Dora, Wow Wow Wubbsey, Max and Ruby, and recently he has really gotten excited by Curious George. We don't have any Curious George movies yet so he would love that!

Hope that helps with anyone that needs any ideas for him...

terribly busy

That's what this past week was. I put in 12+ hour days at work Monday-Thursday, so today it was VERY nice to have an early-out at school and get to leave at 1:00. Monday I took my choir kids to Rawlins after school to try out for all-state. Tuesday I had concession stand duty for the jr. high boys basketball game. Wednesday and Thursday nights I had parent/teacher conferences. Needless to say, I'm exhausted and quite sore tonight! I've been hanging out on the bed, listening to my cousin's high school football game on the internet (they are in the 2nd round of the playoffs!), and looking forward to doing nothing this weekend. I'll try to get pictures posted of our Halloween, though you won't get to see a costume- that story will accompany the post.