My Head Is Spinning.....

Life is a little busy these days. I'm a little overwhelmed and instead of writing a list for me to cross all my to do items off one by one, I'm taking what little time I've got and posting on my blog. I mean, really, I've got priorities.
Since I apparently don't feel like I'm busy enough...you know, working full time, co-parenting two busy boys, raising a new puppy, running a household (paying bills, laundry, grocery shopping, etc.), training to walk 60 miles in three days, working on fundraising $2300 for the 60 mile walk (making cookie jars, selling t-shirts, pricing a bazillion items for a garage sale, helping to plan a beer bust), catching some shut eye here and there, planning a birthday party for 8 eight-year old boys, I thought to myself, what the hell, I've got a free nanosecond each day, why not sign up to take a six week online photography class!
Actually I'm really excited about the class. My girlfriend and I are both taking it so we have a built in support group in case we have no clue what the heck we are doing or suppose to be doing.
Now I've got to find some time to finish the first assignment - reading the manual!

To Cut or Not To Cut.....

Every year around November, Colton begs me to let him grow his hair out and every year I tell him he can grow it out after Christmas when there are no family pictures to be had. The kid hasn't had his hair cut since December. It was getting to be a bit unruly, so I told him it was time. He lucked out a few times when the wait was too long at Great Clips or I just simply forgot until I was tucking him into bed. But yesterday, it was go time.

I told him if he let me take a before and after picture (allowing me to take any picture of him is a huge success) I would post it on my blog for readers to "vote" on which look was a better look.

Here he is before haircut:and here he is post haircut:

Personally, I like his hair best about 2 weeks after the haircut.

Urho's

This weekend I decided to take my family up north to experience their first Urho's parade. For those of you that don't know about Urho's, it's a tradition held in Finland Minnesota. I think the idea behind St. Urho is that he chased all the grasshoppers out of Finland that were eating all the crops. Something like that anyways.
When I was a kid, I remember being in the parade one way or another. It's been at least 15 years since I've gone to the parade and it was pretty much how I remembered it. Lots of fun themed floats and tons of firetrucks. The kids thought it was awesome. Neither of them could believe how much candy was thrown their way. I was able to steal a quick smooch in between floats.

This made Brett's day. He was in shock when he was handed this huge lollipop. His first question? How do I eat this thing?

We had a great weekend up north and happy that spring has perhaps sprung!

Brett-isms......

I need to have this documented somewhere. Brett's really said some cute/funny things these past few weeks, so I just have to share.

We ate McDonalds for dinner a while back. Brett asked me what I was having. I told him a grilled chicken sandwich. His reply? "Oh, does dad eat boy chicken then?"

Brett asked me what I was making for dinner. I told him Swedish meatballs. He went downstairs to play, came up a while later and said, "yum - I smell those Finnish meatballs!"

Brett gave me a big hug this morning and said, "Mom, you are just so cute."

He's a Model....

Mike's waiting for the agencies to start calling! ;)
Actually he wasn't sure why he got picked to be on a publication for his company, but it's cool and now he's getting razzed at work a bit which is fun for him. He's the good looking guy in the back in blue scrubs.

Responsibility Chart - Week One

We've got a week under our belt with the new responsibility chart. I consider it a success so far. The boys had to get 35 smiley faces (out of a possible 49) to be able to pick out a prize from the reward bucket. Colton and 39 and Brett had 31. Colton picked out a prize and already planned out his next 3 picks for the weeks to follow. Brett was bummed that he didn't get a prize put has is eye on something for next week.
The chores/goals for this week have been changed up and each night they've been looking at what they need to do to get the smiley face at the end of the day.
It's working so well, that I heard Colton stop his dad from putting the dinner items away - "hey dad, don't do that - I need to do that to get my smiley face." A.W.E.S.O.M.E.
Brett's struggling a little more, but he's only 3. He's doing a great job and picking up his toys, setting the table and saying please and thank you. He's being challenged on the no whining goal, but we'll get there.

Confessions....

Last Thursday I had my doctors appointment. Just an annual check up. You know - the really fun one that we ladies all look forward to. Anyways, the least favorite part of the appointment for me is stepping on the scale. I have a scale at home and weigh myself at least 3 times a week - just to keep things in check. But when I do that at home, it's in the morning. Before I get in the shower. When I've 8+ hours of not putting something in my mouth.
Thursday morning I really thought about what I was wearing to work as my appointment was during the day. No sweaters - too heavy. I needed pants that weren't too long so I could wear my flat shoes that I could easily slip out of before jumping on the scale and looking through one squinted eye as the giant numbers appear.
I was quite pleased with the number that I saw on the scale. I think I even smiled a little bit.
On Friday I celebrated that number starting with a pumpkin cheesecake muffin for breakfast that was about the size of my head. I kept the celebration rolling right through lunch with a hamburger and some fries. As if that wasn't enough, that evening I may have eaten half a box of Girl Scout Samoas cookies. That was such a fun day. ;)