Mutiny!

The fragile order of this household was compromised today.  I love turkey sandwiches.  I sometimes treat myself to them when I feel deserving, or if I’m just hungry.  When I feel so inclined, Jameson plays a pivotal role in transporting the sandwich from point A to point B.  He has always willingly filled these shoes.  I order the sandwich, and then place it in his car seat with him, and then when we arrive at home with the sandwich safely in tow, he gets a few pieces that I tear off.  Win. Win. 

Until today.  An uprising on his part.  He snapped.  He could be tempted no longer with a lengthy drive home and a delicious sandwich just taunting him in his lap!  Like other times, I bought the sandwich, put it in his chair, only when I unloaded him this is what I found.

He’s eating it!  Right through the paper too! 

ME:  “Jameson, how could you? Is that a tomato seed between your eyes?!”

To which he replied after I took it away… 

J:  “Mama, how could you?  I’m so hungry!”

Poor baby.  Our sandwich partnership has been breeched, but lucky for him, I’m a sucker for that chubby face and I’ll share with him even if I have to do all the heavy lifting.

She’s 2!

Traditionally, I decorate for the kids birthday the night before so they wake up to the splendor.  Typically, this is received with much enthusiasm.  Josie, however, like Josie is in most situations, was skeptical of the hoopla.  She’s still too young to understand what it means to be two.  She was hesitant to even approach the party table

Josie sneaking a peak, cautiously from across the room.  We love her first thing in the morning look.

Finally, I convinced her to at least open her birthday card that sang to her.  She liked it for a second, but as soon as Minnie Mouse was done with her birthday greetings, Josie carefully, placed the card back where it sat on the table and wanted right back down.

Josie wouldn’t wear her princess hat, but we thought someone should. 

After much persuasion Josie let me bring down some of her presents.  Figuring out what to do with them took some more time.

Are presents for standing?

Are they to color on?

Maybe we eat them?

BINGO!  This paper comes off!

She got the hang of it, and was tickled to find stuff inside.

She got a cute pink scooter, an aquadoodle, because she loves to color pictures, some Yo-Gabba Gabba books and dvds, and Whack-a-mole, but the highlight was probably her very own box of crayons.  She just kept saying, “Ooh!  Colors!” and pulling them out one by one to show me.

And then the pinnacle of any birthday celebration went as expected for our Jo.

Oh yeah, she’s crying.  Glad I just did cupcakes instead of spending hours on a cake!

After some consoling she stopped crying, but she never did blow out that candle.  Does that mean she isn’t actually two yet?  Do you have to blow out candles to make that happen?  If so, fine by me, stay little for ever sweet Jo. 

We sure like you this way!

Special Day

 

It’s a special day at our house.  Isaac turned 6!  A smattering of photos celebrating all things Isaac follows.

This one is taken first thing in the morning as he stumbled out of bed, and walked into birthday fun.

 

Isaac wearing his football birthday hat, which apparently brought out the inner line backer in him.  His kindergarten teacher told me that he gives her this pose sometimes at school.  Thankfully, she thinks it’s funny.

Josie’s turn in the football hat.  This was her only participation in the festivities.  She was very sick today.  I mentioned two days ago that she was handling the flu pretty well, but that must have been before she reached the hell stage.  From what I can tell, the flu goes like this.  1- warm and lethargic.  2- Hot and barfy.  3- VERY achy and crying.  We are at stage 3.  Poor baby.  Wow.  Talk about a tangent?!  Where was I?

Isaac trying on his new birthday cleats.  He also got a football game, Green Bay Packer trading cards, but I think the cold hard cash from Grandma and Grandpa Gardner stole the show.  As the money fell out of his card, his eyes got wide, the card got tossed, and he kept asking, “is the real money?  like real real?”

Birthday dinner- homemade pizza (per Isaac’s request)  Football field birthday cake—to Isaac’s delight.  He requested that it be one half chocolate and the other half vanilla.  He really wanted chocolate, but he knows that Will doesn’t like chocolate so he asked for this cake for Will.  Sweet kid.  That wasn’t all the food we had today--  birthday sausage and pancakes, and a surprise lunch out to McDonald’s and playing at the park.  He and Will were both thrilled to be checked out of school for this   (Josie was less thrilled to be drug along )

This picture deserves to be big, because that is one of the cutest things I have ever seen.

A birthday self-photo that says it all.  This birthday had me hopping from 8:30 last night until now, but it was all worth it.  Isaac felt special, and my objective was to make sure that was so.  One of my favorite things to do for my kids is to take time to show them that I really do notice them and care about them, and birthdays are a great way to take all of their favorites and let it all unfold before them.  Perhaps as a middle child he was especially thrilled with the little things like personalizing his wrapping paper with cut out Packer helmets and footballs, and his excited “wowee! I love the wrapping paper!”  was all that I needed to fuel hours of work for this little man.  Isaac makes us laugh every single day.  He is comic relief in a busy, crazy home.  He is kind and considerate of his family, especially Will, and we love him too. 

Happy Birthday boo-bear!  (ahem, excuse me, I mean, happy birthday Isaac.  I keep forgetting that you have requested we only call you Isaac from now on.  It will never happen again Mr. Gigglesworth, never again)

Final Score: Brown Family- 0 Flu- 6

 

We surrender!  We surrender to your vicious fever, heavy congestion, and hacking cough.  You officially are superior to us.  Our last lady standing (Josie) finally threw in the towel.  She was warm and clingy yesterday, and hot and miserable today.  It probably makes me a bad mom to say this, but when I noticed that she was warm yesterday a small part of me was glad.  I knew it was coming.  It seemed impossible to avoid, so why not sooner than later?  Get it over with and get us back to normal around here.  I do feel bad for her though.  Of all my sickies she has been the most pleasant and sweet through the misery.  Feel better soon, Jo.

This Never Happens

This picture was taken only minutes after bedtime.

Typically, without an enforced bedtime my kids can just keep going and going, but we’ve been sick.  How sick?  This sick.

This. Never. Happens.

If only Jameson could be so sleepy.  How many days in a row do you think someone can go without sleep? 

…And They All Fall Down

It has been a rocky few weeks around here. It seems as though something other than my hairy legs have suffered from the long hours, and mega stress of the last few months, that thing being all of our immune systems. Most of the time I don’t feel like a family of 6 is that many, but it sure feels like a lot, when we cycle through sickness like hand-me-downs. It started with Will. Then me. Then Isaac. Then Josh. Now Will again, and Josh, and as of last night I have a fiery hot Jameson too. The only one who has managed to not get barfy, snotty, or excessively warm is Josie. I wondered for a while now if she was super human. This proves, yes, she is-- That and her undisputable ability to shriek louder and longer than any average human ever could when forced into her car seat. I’m sure it will hit her too.

In between the doses of Tylenol, barf bowls, and steamy sick bodies strewn about, I have managed to find a few things to be thankful for.

This is one of my favorite things that Josie does. She doesn’t like the vacuum. Every time I turn it on, she seeks refuge on the couch, but the cutest part is when I vacuum near her and she lifts up her feet for me, even though she is safely harbored two feet above. Love it.

Baby baths in the sink, are super cute, although he’s kind of suited for the extra large and deep kind of sink, instead of the one I have, but still cute, nonetheless.

Watching Josie score a touchdown, while daddy blocks for her. She’s pretty much the most awesome two year old, little girl, running back I know.

And of course, Easter! In years past, I’ve made a really diligent effort to spend the couple of weeks before Easter teaching my boys all about the Savior’s life. Not so much this year. We did talk a lot about how when we are sick we can pray to Him, and he will comfort us, because He knows just how we are feeling. There’s always next year. When the Easter bunny comes to our house he always hides the kids baskets and makes them find it with the clues he leaves. Everyone’s Easter was a little anticlimactic since Isaac felt disappointed that we couldn’t do a lot of the things we normally would because half us are sick, and Will could only muster the energy to find his basket with the aid of me, and then after he did, didn’t touch it the rest of the day.

Now we start Spring Break. Fingers crossed that by the end of it, I’ll have tucked all of the medicines, thermometers, and humidifiers to the proper places, and we can start living again.

Sometimes You Just Treat Yourself to a Can Opener

A couple of weeks ago I was shopping at Target, and I meandered by the cooking utensils.  I admired the manual can openers hanging neatly on the wall.  The can opener I had at home just wasn’t cutting it.  Literally.  It was becoming increasingly impossible to open a can without either having it’s contents splattered all over the counter from the can slipping off over and over, or producing a lid with jagged edges that were sure to slice right into my fingers.  Even with this realization that I needed a new can opener, I probably went to the store 15 times, thought of it, and then passed (from some reason) and went home to continue struggling with the old one.  Well, while at Target, I admired them and then for the 16th time was about to walk away, but then I didn’t.  I turned back.  Grabbed one.  Have been nothing but pleased with my $8 purchase!

I shared my can opener miracle story with Josh, and so thus, it seems only logical that the next thing that followed was a trip to the Toyota dealership to pick up this beauty!  We got it over the weekend and I could not be more pleased.  We traded in my still quite new Santa Fe for it.  I loved my Santa Fe.  Unlike my old can opener there were many wonderful things about that car, but it just wasn’t cutting it anymore for our family.  It technically had enough seats for all of us, but functionally it was a pain to load everyone in.  Josh being the incredibly generous husband that he is wanted to help ease my burden in some way, and moved quickly to make this happen. 

For most of us the van is a very welcome addition.  The boys beg to go places with me just so they can ride in it.  They clamor to be the one to push the buttons to shut the door, so much so that I could probably use it as a bribe of some kind….hmmm…

Josh wishes that he was the stay at home parent so he could drive it all the time. (I have reminded him that the kids come with that deal, but he sticks by his desire)

Josie remains undecided.  She seems pleased in this picture, but trap her in the straps of her car seat and a very different demon,  Josie, emerges.  Perhaps less to do with the van, and more to do with this sassy, independent, almost two year old we have.