Dad & Louise's visit--last weekend

Wow, I'm getting behind! These are some pictures from Dad & Louise's trip to Wichita LAST weekend! We were able to play outside for a little while since the weather was fairly warm.




We're off to a birthday party soon, so hopefully I'll have more pictures later!

Checking in!

Hi all! Nothing spectacular going on with us, but wanted to post a quick note since I've had some worried friends wondering why I've not blogged recently. Thanks for being worried. :-)

Brent is feeling better after a bout of the stomach flu paired with a respiratory virus. He missed a day of work and spent the rest of his work week coughing and hacking (much to his co-workers' dismay, I'm sure), but is doing much better now. The kids are finally over their colds, and Graham is finishing up another round of antibiotics for his ear infections.

Since there's nothing much else to report on, I thought I'd give you a glimpse into my shallow side and talk about shopping. (Men, you're welcome to continue reading, but I assure you that you won't "get" it...) Ladies, have you ever walked into a store and the heavens opened up and choirs sang? I FOUND THAT STORE, and seriously...it's THAT good. Its name is "Trios" and it's located at 21st & Rock here in Wichita. I'd never been in before, but had walked by their storefront many times. It's a small boutique-y shop that doesn't allow strollers, so....well....you know how that works with my lifestyle. I had a few minutes to kill (sans children) before I had to get home to relieve the babysitter, and hopped in to see if the inside of the store was as fabulous as the storefront. IT WAS. It's full of gorgeous silver platters and serving dishes, linen towels, Vera Bradley bags, adorable boutique children's items, and a few pieces of glassware/crystal. I've been looking for a footed pedestal cake server with a tall dome (tall enough to cover a frosted layer cake), and they had one there that was exactly what I've been looking for! Except that it was $435... (Needless to say, Trios still owns that cake plate.) I didn't buy a thing, but can't wait for my next chance to browse. If you're ever in need of a shopping date, give me a call and I'll take you there!

Happy Friday everyone!!

Our new addictions

Facebook, Skype and Wii have won our hearts around here! Brent discovered Skype, and set it up so we can talk to Dad and Louise. It's amazing! We're loving it, and Brent is becoming quite the computer super-user.

I joined Facebook, and it's fun to see old friends and classmates on there! Brent needs to open an account, too--he's been wanting to connect with some old Army buddies. He got a call out of the blue last month from someone he served in Germany with, which was fantastic! He'd love to get in touch with some of the others.

Ahhhh, the Wii...Sophie LOVES to watch someone playing it, and brings the remote to me practically begging me to play it. (Can I blame this for the decrease in housework I've done lately??) Who knew I was such a tennis pro? My friend Becky is quite the tennis player (in the real world...you know, a real court and fuzzy balls and everything) and I asked her if she'd show me how to play "real tennis" sometime. All this brought on by a video game--it seems backwards, doesn't it??

Here are some recent pics of the kids playing in a "fort" we made under the kitchen table!

S.O.S...bring chicken noodle soup!!

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MELISSA!! We had breakfast to celebrate her birthday yesterday morning, then went shopping and found FABULOUS sunglasses. A good way to kick off a birthday weekend!

The kids are all sick with a bad cold. I woke up this morning feeling less than great, too... So far Brent is ok, he's been working the day shift so he's gone before the kids wake up and home after they go to bed--not a bad thing when they're sickies! I'm going to give them baths with vapor bath wash later this morning--hopefully that will clear their sinuses a little and help them breathe. Today might be a "quilt-on-the-floor-watching-Elmo" kind of day...

2008 is almost over! Time flies!

Have you made your New Year's resolutions yet?? Brent doesn't have any, but I've come up with a few:

1. More "face time" with friends. This past year has been a blur of sleep deprivation, doctor's appointments and diapers, and FAR too few lunches, coffees or glasses of wine with friends. Now that the kids are a little bigger and we have babysitters we adore, I'm ready to get out and re-connect again (with people who make me feel good about myself)!!

2. Simplify, simplify, simplify. This covers a lot of areas, but mainly meal preparation. I'll go into more detail further down in this post...

3. Find a hairdresser that I love and STICK WITH THEM! I've not been very organized about scheduling hair appointments, so I end up calling around at the last minute until I can get in somewhere. IT SHOWS. I've been so focused on getting it done cheaper that I end up with a cut and color that I hate. I'm hoping to find the stylist of my dreams this year!

4. Get involved in a small group at church. Our church is so big that, without belonging to a small group, it's easy to feel lost in the crowd. Brent's schedule won't allow him to go with me each week, so I'm trying to decide whether a couple's group or a women's group would be best for me. I'm anxious to get "plugged in" somewhere!

5. Get out with the kids more. I've done pretty well with this over the past year, but now that the kids are walking and more "mobile" I want to do more. The park, Exploration Place, the zoo...wherever! They love to be out of the house, and being cooped up in the house is so lonely for all of us! (This resolution can be combined with Resolution #1--I need to get some play dates set up!)

There you have it...if you have some of your own, I'd love to hear them!

OK, about #2: You know how much I love Dream Dinners, but now that the kids are eating so much (you should SEE these boys eat) it's not very affordable for us. We were getting by with the 3-serving meals, but now we definitely need the 6-serving meals which puts it out of our price range. I asked Brent what types of meals he'd like to see me fix (keep in mind that I usually try to make something pretty "involved"--roast, grilled meats, fancy sandwiches--because I thought that's what he wanted). One day I spent a WHOLE AFTERNOON making a homemade roasted red pepper lasagna that he turned his nose up at, but he attacks a frozen store-brand lasagna like it's gourmet. Sooooo...of ALL the meals in the world that he could pick from, THIS was his top 5 list:

1. Frozen fish sticks and boxed macaroni & cheese
2. Frozen Tony's pizzas (or occasionally the $.99 Totino's frozen pizzas)
3. Boxed Old El Paso taco dinner kits
4. Chili dogs (canned chili and hot dogs)
5. Frozen Hungry Man dinners

A PIECE OF MY SOUL DIED when I heard this list. Do you know how many hours I've wasted trying to fix meals to impress him and THIS is what he's been wanting all along?! I AM A LIBERATED WOMAN! What will I do with all of my new-found time?!

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU!

Sunday afternoon

Aunt Judy responded to the birthday post from yesterday: "You and LeAnn have made me what I am today, old and haggard." HA!!! We are definitely the reason for some of her gray hairs, for sure! I can't take credit for her *sparkling* personality, though! (For those of you who haven't met my Aunt Judy, she IS the Maxine character from Hallmark!) :-)

I took the kids to Urgent Care this afternoon to have Graham's ears checked out. At our doctor's appt. last week she mentioned that one of his eardrums was concave, and would likely turn into an ear infection. Since our insurance changes Jan. 1 and I have to work all week, I took him over there for a peek at his ears today. Verdict: Double ear infection...AGAIN. He's on another round of antibiotics.

I have a pair of athletic pants that I love--they're the slick material kind that have a mesh lining. They're so well-loved that a hole has worn next to one of the pockets. I tell you that to tell you this... As I was unloading the kids at the doctor's office, I dropped my keys into what I thought was my pocket. I realized that it wasn't my pocket when my keys slid all the way down to my ankles, trapped between the layers of material in my pants. I stood in the parking lot for a while trying to decide how to MacGyver their rescue, then finally ripped the original hole bigger and was able to reach DOWN through the opening after them. I'm sure THAT looked suave. Now I have a sewing project to do...

Happy Birthday Aunt Judy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT JUDY!

I wonder what the kids and grandkids have in store for you today? I wish I was there to torment you...er, I mean celebrate with you...today! In honor of your birthday, I'm making salmon patties for my household tonight for dinner. If Sophie was older, I might take her to Sears for a traumatizingly embarrassing bra shopping trip, or I'd loudly listen to oldies music while dropping her off at school. Sigh...she's lucky she's so young...she has no idea what I have in store for her later in life... Experiences like that build character, I say!!!

Now...where did I leave my Alba 77 shake? LeAnn and I might come and have a sleepover at your house tonight for old time's sake...we're going to ask you to drop us off at the mall for a while, though. And run us through Sonic. We'd eat a chocolate Pop Tart to tide us over, but they're Uncle Leroy's. But first we need to make a few phone calls...