The Precious Moments of Parenting......

Yesterday I stumbled upon some really good tickets to the Twins game, so I gave them to Mike and Colton. They had a great time.
When they first got there, a man and his kid were sitting next to them and the guy looked at Colton and handed him a baseball. Apparently, they were there during batting practice and happened to get one of the balls that were hit up into the stands.
Then as he was enjoying his huge ice cream sundae in a Twins hat, a guy accidentally spilled his beer and got some on Colton. He felt horrible and offered to buy him a new sundae as a few drops happened landed in his ice cream. Mike told him not to worry about it, it was an accident (truly it was - it wasn't as though he was hammered and poured it on him). A few innings later the guy came back with a bag of cotton candy for Colton.
Then on the way home, the following conversation took place:

Colton: Dad, why did that guy and his kid give me that ball?
Mike: Well, he said that they already had one. Remember what mom and I tell you about sharing or giving things to other people? It makes you feel good to make somebody else feel good.
long pause....
Colton: I feel bad for people that don't have anything. (this said as they were driving past a few homeless people holding up signs).
long pause......
Colton: Dad, I can't wait to have kids so that I can teach them what you just taught me. And I can tell them about what we do. Oh, and I'll teach them about Kirby Puckett and Herbek too.

My Baby Is Turning 2!!!!!

T minus 4 days until my baby turns 2! You think time goes by fast with one kid? Try throwing another in the mix. I just cannot believe it....
From womb... to birth....
to six months....
to one year...
to almost two....
You've learned so much over these two years. From crawling to walking/running, from nuk to recently no nuk, from crying when you are hungry to walking to the pantry and grabbing (insert snack name here) and getting yourself a bowl from the cabinet to dump your snacks into....
You melt my heart with those clear blue eyes and the way you look at me and say "mama" just when I need to hear it.
You are so much fun and so so busy learning about everything. You adore your brother and want to do everything he does.
You get excited whenever you see a puppy, a "big big truck" or a "mo" (otherwise known as a motorcycle).
Your laugh is infectious and your kisses are plentiful.
Thank you for coming into our lives. I love you B!

What's The Deal?

We went to the neighboring town's parade today. We just happened to be standing by the two state patrol officers that were "monitoring" things. At the beginning of the parade, a Hummer with some National Guard men and women rolled on through. There was one guy standing up through the sunroof type thing throwing balls to all the kids. One of the officers went and told him that he couldn't do that. I had mixed feelings about it. I understand that getting hit in the side of the head with a rubber ball wouldn't feel all that good. On the other hand, it's not like they were chucking them into the crowds....they were tossing them to the kids about 4 feet from them.
Then, the next few floats were a whole slew of fire trucks. Kids were in the cab and up on top throwing candy. The same officer went to each and everyone of those fire trucks and told them that they can't throw candy from the trucks.
What!??? Isn't that one of the main points of a parade - to throw candy? Is this something new? Did I miss an article on msn.com about some kid that lost a limb by getting hit with a flying pack of smarties? Sheesh.

A Little Get-Away......

This past Thursday, my mom and I loaded up the boys and took off on a road trip to Michigan. We went to visit my great-grandmother. Colton has met her once for her 95th birthday and Brett (who's middle name his her last name) has never met her. The boys did fantastic in the car. We only made a couple of stops as we cruised through 4 states in one day.
Here's the boys with their great-great grandmother who will be 98 in September.
It was fascinating listening to all her story's and trying to capture as much history as I possibly could. Now that my grandmother has passed away, she's basically the only one who answer all my questions.

The boys stayed busy feeding the fish, playing croquet, blowing bubbles and taking walks. Oh and don't worry - the boat was docked right on shore in about 1 foot of water....that's why the kids don't have life jackets on.
On the way home, we stopped at Lake Michigan. When we got there, Colton made the comment "this is what I thought Michigan would look like."
We spent the night at Wisconsin Dells so the boys could swim and burn off some energy. We avoided both the huge storms that rolled through - luckily!!

Check And Done.....

#21 on THE LIST is complete! On Saturday the plants went in and the mulch went on. Only moments later the tornado sirens started and the black clouds rolled in. Luckily we were on the very edge of the storm so there was no damage to the little plants.
Here are some before, during and after photos for your viewing pleasure:

Here's before. Pretty boring huh?

Here's from the other angle. You can see the old gray bricks that the previous home owners had in place.
Making some progress! The new bricks are in. I stacked them 2 high to add a little dimension to the front of our house. I learned that on HGTV.
I kept only one of the previous bushes. No idea what it is, but it gets these hot pink flowers on it and it's beautiful.
There she is! The completed look. Keep in mind that things now need to grow. It doesn't look real full now, but give it a year or two and I'm sure it will be featured in a magazine - or my scrapbook. Either is just fine.
Oh, and we couldn't just let our trees in the front feel left out!See that little bush on the left hand side? That little guy is suppose to get 5-6 feet tall and 4-5 feet wide. Oh, and the 2 to the right of it will grow quite a bit and get white and purple flowers if all goes well. Man, I hope I can keep them alive!

I'm glad that this project is done. It was way more work than I thought it would be. LOTS of trips to Menards, 12 yards of dirt being dropped off in our front yard (we didn't use all of it for this project) and lots of learning from the nice people at the greenhouse.

Keeping Busy.....

It's been a busy couple of weeks around our house. Our biggest project has been our front yard landscaping. It's not quite done, but if the weather cooperates with us, it will be done by Sunday evening! I'm so excited to cross that off of my list. I'll be sure to post before and after pictures.
In the meantime, here's what has been occupying our family:

Baseball Games

Brother Bonding
Hanging With Cousin William
Eating Birthday Cake & Ice Cream With Grandpa Jon
Hanging With Cousin Jack
Planting His Tree With Grandpa
Eating Dinner With "The Boys"

Class Field Trip To The Zoo

Shout Out........

My cousin is in a band. A good band. A very good band. A very very good band.
I highly encourage you to check out this link that my mom sent me over the weekend. Cory is my cousin.
Here's a shout out to Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons!