Winter Break Wrap-up

The boys had a great Winter Break! I'm trying to make the most of my "free time" (as in baby free not as in I don't have anything to do!) with the boys. 

Wednesday of last week after swim lessons (gotta get Conner swimming before baby gets here!) we went to Chick-fil-a and then to see Journey 2 the Mysterious Island.  I thought it was super cute that Conner had his 3D glasses on upside down and he never noticed!

The first picture I took without him knowing . . . see what happens when I ask him to smile????

Thursday we had another great barefoot outdoor day and Friday we ran a million errands to get ready for our big trip to Great Wolf Lodge!!

Saturday we left for GWL.  When we got there our room wasn't ready yet so we checked our bags with the bellman and headed for the water! A couple of hours later Conner was ready to find our room so we went to get our bags and they had lost one of our bags!! Thankfully after about 3 hours and lots of phone calls back and forth our little lost bag was found and we even got a free supper out of the deal!

Last time we went I complained about only having Pepsi products to drink and I was so excited to see that now GWL is a Coca-Cola lovers heaven! I still think it's too cold in the waterpark and from the looks of all the kiddos with blue, quivering lips I am not the only one, but other than that it was a ton of fun!

Sunday night we took a break from the water to go to Medieval Times.  It was a total let down . . . when the "fighting" FINALLY took place the boys perked up but it was not worth the time and money, in my opinion.

Waiting in line outside by the moat!

A picture of a picture . . . Mason & I both have food on our face

but overall a great picture of me and my big boy!

The noble Brown family . . .

notice the frowny boys . . .

we had just been assigned the yellow knight to cheer for

which did not sit well with my boys who wanted to cheer for the green knight!

Overall it was a great weekend with my beloved ones! Ready for Spring Break now!

Spring Day on a Winter Break

The boys are out of school for Winter Break this week and we have had the best time! Thankful for sunny spring-like days with no rain thus far!

Monday we went on a play date with our friends down the road and that was super fun! Then they got to play with Mimee & Papa while I went to the doctor for a check-up (things are looking good!).  After that my cousin Mollie came over to play while Ryan & I went to our Small Group.  We are loving our new small group!!! It was a great day filled with lots of different people and things to do!

Yesterday we had planned on seeing a movie but the day was just too beautiful for that! Plus we have swim lesson today and other errands the rest of the week and it was turning out that I would be in town everyday and there is nothing I loathe more than going to town!! So movie day got switched to today.

My dad picked the boys up in the late morning on the Gator and they went and played at my parents for a while and I took a walk. I thought I was going to die on my walk but I survivied. I've felt great during this pregnancy but apparently Baby did not want me walking yesterday!

The boys came home and we jumped on the trampoline, played in the sandbox, ate popsicles, and finally found our way to the mud puddles.

Our day is best summarized by saying the kids changed clothes 3 times and I have a pile of wet, dirty laundry to do today!!

It doesn't get more classic country than this - barefoot in a mud puddle!

Daddy came home with Icee's!!

And Conner has a filthy face and doesn't care!

Watch out Conner! Big Bro is making mud balls!!

Getting ready for ball season!

A HOMERUN!!

After fielding balls for Conner & Mason while Ryan worked on batting form,

I was done for the day!

This is what happens when I ask Conner for a picture!

The boys ended up outside for a total of like 5 straight hours and they each have little sunburns on their noses to prove it! Thankful we may end up with two "spring" breaks!

My Love's . . .

On this Valentine's Day 2012 I'm feeling a little crummy and originally I was going to blog about the last time I felt so crummy - which was postpartum with Conner . . . aka 7 weeks of hell . . . but I've since been inspired by everyone else's sweet V-Day posts so let's just concentrate on the Good Stuff!

I'm like the luckiest girl alive - for real!

My Mason is very smart and sensitive and caring! He's been blowing us away with his reading skills that seem to have arrived over night! He even read Scripture in Sunday School this past week and that just made my heart melt to hear about that!

He's can be a bossy big brother sometimes but then he evens it out by being patient with Conner when I least expect it! He loves rocks and the great outdoors and his mama!

My Conner is wild and crazy yet loyal as can be and sweet and caring when the deemed necessary! He keeps us rolling with his antics and his declarations of "Did anybody order some kick butt?" (thank you Cartoon Network for that).  He defends his brother like nobody's business - so if you were to dare be mean to Mason, steal a toy, tease him, etc. expect to have the full ninja force from Conner as soon as he notices!

He's also hard-headed and opinionated and eats a million popsicles a day and he still chews on almost everything! To bother us he licks us and wipes his snotty nose on anything but a Klenex! But he's a sweetheart who loves his family to pieces!

My Ryan is a wonderful daddy who spoils the aforementioned boys rotten! He surprised me this V-Day weekend by making arrangements with our babysitter and planning a date without any knowledge or help from me! It was great!

Here are my precious ones . . . in random non date order!

my sweets loving on each other!

Donuts with Dad

(notice Conner chewing on his napkin)

at a pirate party this weekend

self-portrait at the Revel

Sock Monkey fun at Faith's first b-day party

doctor's office - patients waiting patiently

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Mindy did something crafty . . . holla!

Okay I totally stole that title and the cute craft from the anderson crew! She's one of my fave bloggers that I stalk on a regular basis - be sure to check her out!!

Her Valentine's mailboxes are cuter than mine but this works for us! I searched Goodwill for candesticks and only found 1 for $14 and that was more than I wanted to pay for this little project plus I needed three.  If you are wondering why I needed candlesticks then check out Emily's blog! And I found stickers to be easier for me - you know because I'm not crafty - at all!

The boys will come home from swim lessons today to these cute mailboxes (Target $1) and inside today there will be plastic hearts filled with conversation hearts! I hit the dollar bins at Target and the other goodies leading up to V-Day will be Tic Tacs, a mini chocolate box, Mario Kart pencil bags, a card & love notes and on V-Day they will get Disney's Treasure Buddies DVD.

Simple and cheap little ways to tell them how much I LOVE THEM!! And yes, Baby, has a mailbox with no name on it since he is currently still nameless!! 10 weeks to go and counting and I have so much to do!!

JUMP!

Are Sunday morning's hectic for anyone else??? I try very hard on Saturday to have everyone's clothes set out and to know what I'm making for breakfast and I set my alarm and get up early and everything but I still seem to be running around like a madwoman on Sunday mornings! This past Sunday was no exception . . . and of course it would be the Sunday that Mason and some of his Kids Church friends sang their favorite worship song, Jump! And all I have is this terrible iPhone picture! He's the cute one on the second row in the blue argyle (sp?) sweater!

Speaking of being rushed on Sunday . . . there are lots of Sunday mornings where I have to do some serious apologizing about my "get out of the door and in the car NOW" behavior.  This Sunday Mason & I were going together early to church and he was very anxious about singing and reciting his memory verse in church.  I was so glad for those quiet moments together where we could talk about how God told Joshua to be strong and courageous.  We listened to the Jump! song on CD and it said "put your faith in motion" and I explained to him that he was doing exactly that when he stood up there and proclaimed his beliefs. I was SO PROUD of him when he stood on the second row and did his movements and sang - he's a shy guy and I know that took a lot of effort on his behalf.  Afterward he told me he did it but that he was still scared and that's when we got to have a little lesson on bravery and how being scared but still doing the scary thing makes you brave and strong and courageous!!

I'm so proud of my sweet boy and the little man of God he is becoming by "putting his faith in motion!" I as an adult could learn a lot from him about trusting in God enough to do the scary things!

NESTING

I've been getting ready for baby lately and have surprised myself with how much energy I have had  . . . until this week. I've sort of crashed and burned and done a lot of napping this week.  So I've either been too busy or too sleepy to blog!

I had a mild panic attack yesterday (not actually) when I got my American Baby magazine and it talked about that in this stage of my pregnancy I should have the room done and probably just needed a few odds and ends! OMG - this baby doesn't even have a bed!! I have bought a new lamp and some wall decals and two crib sheets - does that count? His room is still a transition/staging area . . . I've gotten most of Conner's clothes out but I still need to buy Conner a new dresser and desk for his new shared room with Mason in order to make room for baby. Baby clothes are sorted but not washed and toys and equipment have been dug out of the attic.  There is at least a little forward progress!

After all the baby stuff that has been accomplished I looked about my house and realized it had been sorely neglected.  Yesterday I pulled out the vacumm and started to work with lots of breaks in between because I can't breathe lately.  I was so proud of my floors and I spent most of the night reminding the kids - "Mommy just vacummed PLEASE hold your head OVER YOUR PLATE!!!"

This morning I fixed them breakfast and went to finish getting myself ready and in strolls Conner with two slices of buttered bread made into a sandwich that he very proudly made himself . . . on the floor . . . those freshly vacummed floors . . . and what's a mom to say when she's staring at a great big proud big boy smile other than "I'm so very proud of you!"

So here's to lots of love and laughs and messes no matter how hard I try!

Love a good After Christmas Clearance Sale!

Wednesday I heard the shouts of "Hallelujah" from the heavenly chorus . . .  I was home alone!! Yippee! For the most part it was the first time since before Thanksgiving, as Conner has missed a TON of school due to sickness.  And don't get me wrong I LOVE my time with Mason & Conner but it was so nice to go to Wal-mart by myself and not answer twenty million questions and then go home and get some work done!

Many of you have heard me say that I *HEART* the Mansfield Wal-mart and I remembered why this week - great sales!! All the toys they brought in just for Christmas were 50% off! So I managed to snag a few good ones for upcoming birthday parties! Yea!

After toys I got everything to do Conner's treat bags for next Christmas for his class (nothing edible, don't worry!) all for 75% off! Ryan isn't too happy about my sales because he knows that means I'll be storing these items until next year but I'm super excited!

And last but not least - Operation Christmas Child 2012 shopping has begun!! I have already been saving Kids Meal toys but now I've actually bought a few items too!  I got three pair of shoes for $3/each and 2 tank tops and a dress for between $2-$3! So pumped! If I shop all year long I will be able to get so much more for the money!  By the way for those of you who helped out last year with OCC . . . the boys and I tracked our boxes by paying for the shipping online and we took our two boxes to the donation center with the rest of them . . . and our boxes went to Togo, Africa! I'm not sure if that is where all the boxes went but if they stayed all together then probably so! I was really really hoping mine were going to Africa! Yea!

I left Wal-Mart such a happy camper and am so proud of my thrifty purchases!