What's going on at our house....

Haven't been blogging lately..just seems like there is a lot going on here.
Working on trying to get this guy

potty trained.
It's sure a bummer of a job.
It also seems like the kids have been sick for the last 3 weeks.
Brooklyn still has a cough that just WON'T.GO.AWAY!

And...my brother Derek and his wife Jennie just had another baby.
She is just the cutest thing ever!
Hallie Jane.
I'm excited to be able to hold her and cuddle and ignore my own kids
because they don't let me hold them and cuddle them anymore.
Then...when the baby has had enough of me...
i'll just give her back to mom and dad...
because that's what happens when it's not YOUR baby!

Everything else here is fine.
Just trying to figure out how to
budget money better,
get more organized...as always...
still working on my chore chart for the kids,
and work on building our food storage.
Hope all is well with you guys!

Valentine's Day...family style

It's hard to celebrate Valentine's Day

when you have 2 little kids.

It's even harder when you really don't want to pay a babysitter

to go out and spend even more money on dinner AND a movie...

when you have spent WAYYYYY too much money on flowers.

BESIDES

we don't really worry about doing any of those things in our house.

We have found that we have just as much fun cooking dinner at home

as we would having a night out.

It's usually too busy and crowded at restaurants anyway!

So, this year, Brian was in charge.

He made steak, wrapped in bacon...

garlic mashed potatoes,

asparagus

and garlic cheese rolls.

(yep, that's a lot of garlic!)

The kids got a delicious serving of

MAC AND CHEESE

and for their dessert.....

popsicles.

Our dessert....

creme bruele!

Brian makes the best creme bruele....

and it's my ABSOLUTE favorite EVER!!!

After dinner, the kids went down stairs with us

and were showing off with their jungle gym acrobatics!

Those kids can JUMP!!!

the cutest little 4 eyes around!

I have the opportunity once a month to "assist" in Brooklyn's preschool class.
I guess volunteer is the correct word.
I like to call it "spying"
I just get to play with the kids and watch Brooklyn...
I like to see how she interacts with other kids..it's fun!
Anyhooo...the 2nd time I was there...
The school nurse (I think) came in and did an eye test on all the kids.
Brooklyn didn't pass.
The nurse said, "Let's do it again in a minute..maybe when she's not so distracted."
Yeah right, I thought...that child is the poster child for A.D.D.!
So, when she was done with all the other kids, she took Brooklyn out in the hall and tried again.
She was the nicest lady...trying so hard to get her to tell her what was on the cards.
We were in a seperate class room, one that wasn't occupied at the time.
I felt so bad for her, she just really couldn't see the cards!
I told Brooklyn to walk forward and stop once she could read the cards...
so she did. She stoped and read 2 of the 4 and the asked me if she could move forward again.
I knew I had let her watch too much T.V.!
I felt so bad.
So, at the beginning of the year..once the new insurance kicked in... off to the Dr. we went!

Look at her in this pictures. Her body kinda just looks stiff and scared.
I really wish they had eye clinics that were geared towards little kids,
kinda like a pediatric dentist office or something.
This Dr., you could tell, just hadn't been around kids for a LONG time and
had NO idea how to talk to them.
He stuck this machine in front of her and just said..
"What was is this pointing?"
He didn't really explain the E to her or anything.
I tried to cut in where I thought I could without being an 'annoying' parent.
He dialated her eyes and said he got a pretty good reading of what her prescription should be.
Then we went out and looked for frames.
The girl was SO excited.
We tried some on...and hurried and put them back on the shelf...
WHO THE HECK CHARGES $250.00 FOR KIDS FRAMES!!
We ended up finding some that she liked...and that were in my price range.

This is her in the store...(notice the sticker is still on the plastic lense?)
She put them on and said "Mom, i'm all better now! I can see great!"
Yeah, right!
We waited our week for the "real" glasses to come in...
She put them on and carried her case around ALL afternoon.
She would keep saying..."Oh, they are dirty. I have to clean them."
and she would...about every 5 minutes!
I think Brison bent the frames on day 2!
We will see how long this lasts...so far so good!
I think she's ADORABLE!

Oh, did I mention that while we were at the Dr's office,
I decided to update my prescription.
Now we are twinners!

A new phone & some OLD photos!

So, I got a new phone this week.
Because ... well, you know.
I don't ever want to get to the point where I say
"I can't keep up with all the new technology"
because then I would feel old.
So, anyway...
in getting the new phone, I in turn get to put away the old one.
I don't know about you, but it's sad when you lose all the pictures and videos that you have on your *old* phone.
So, I transfered them to a memory stick and put them on my computer!
There are some DOOZIES!


Brooklyn was so excited about her bike, she couldn't wait to ride it....outside!
A new outfit I got for her...i'm pretty sure I was sending the picture to Allison to make sure it was cute!

When she falls asleep in the car like this, Brian ALWAYS sings...."wo wo wo, she's a lady!"

The princess on her way to grandma and grandpas for halloween...2008

And the goggles....oh for the love!

Apparently, all that I ever take of the Gus-ster is when he is in the car....

that or I have some of him naked on the toilet...man, I should have put those ones on here!

Don't you just feel bad for them when they fall asleep?

I mean, really, how comfortable could it be!

The kids just absolutely LOVE to be in the "way far back!"

You can't tell by the look on his face, but he is EXCITED!

Now, these last 2 are just WAY TOO CUTE! He was such a cute baby!...

I know he's not a BABY in these, but compared to what he is now, he was a baby in these!

Little cute stinker!