Happy Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHELSEA!!

I am so lucky to have this wonderful woman as my wife! She does so much for me and for our beautiful children. I'm sure all of you that know her would agree with me that there isn't a nicer, more selfless person than Chelsea.

I love you sweetie. I sure hope you had a wonderful birthday. I had fun being with you all day. Thanks for letting me take the day off of work! Happy Birthday.

Catching Up

Every once in awhile someone in my household reminds me that I never post any of the pictures I have taken. Well here they are.Bryline loves her baths these days. Brooklyn and Cade love to watch her splash herself.

This was right before her first trip to the pool.

I love that she actually has some rolls to her. To give you an idea of how small Brooklyn was, she wore this same swim suit when she was 9 months old.

I decided to convert Caden's crib into a makeshift bed. I know he's 3 and in a crib. It was a space issue really. The kids have enjoyed jumping from bed to bed etc. I am completely regretting my decision to do this. On average it has been taking Cade 1 1/2 hours to fall asleep because he thinks he's so cool now that he has a big bed and can just slide out. Tonight he told me, "It's too hard to fall asleep, it's taking too long!" Two hours later he was finally asleep.

The kids love to make pizza with me. Don't they look so old!

The packing has begun. Ugh!

A few weeks ago we went to an open house type thing for a Veterinarian Hospital. They had free pony rides that the kids loved. I felt bad for the poor horses, it was so HOT!

Well these are some of the happenings as of late. Maybe I'll try to be better at posting our adventures....maybe.

I love my wife

Just thought I needed to tell Chelsea how much she means to me and how much she does for our family. Thanks, Chels. I love you!!!!

Guys Night Out

Tonight it was out on the town with the good ole' boys! Caden and I dropped Brooklyn off at her primary activity at the church, and we hit the nightlife. That's right, just us boys. Chelsea was kind enough, and trusting enough, to let us get out and cause some ruckus that only boys can do. So what did we do, you ask? I mean c'mon, obviously I can't divulge the full extent of our adventures, but lets just say that Playplace that Ronald McDonald built is down right manly! We had a blast slamming back the vanilla ice cream cones and hot fudge sundaes, in between flying down those crazy slides. Yes, we were in heaven. Sometimes a boy gots to do what a boy gots to do, if you know what I mean!! Maybe Caden will give me permission at some later date to post more details of our adventure.
Ah yes, and I guess I do need to confess that we had to hit up WalMart for Mom; to buy some trash bags and makeup. But hey, what's a good guys night out if you can't keep the women happy back at home!!

Grateful Sunday

Again, I have to say that this "grateful Sunday" idea is borrowed from Farnsworth's Blog.

Today I am grateful for growing up in a time period where I learned that in competition there is a winner and a loser. I am grateful that I had parents who taught me that not everything in life is fair and that sometimes I will get the short end of the stick. I am grateful that I grew up in a time where not everything was handed to me just for being me, but rather I learned that if I wanted something I had to work for it. I am glad I learned as a youngster playing little league baseball, basketball, and football that the winners got trophy's and the losers...well...we didn't get trophy's...and that was okay.

I just watched a little clip tonight on the TV show 60 Minutes, that talked about the age group of America known as The Millenials. Many of you who are probably reading this right now fall under this age group, those born between 1980 and 1995ish. It was a pretty interesting piece altogether, and while I didn't agree with 100% of it, I had to chuckle when the reporter said that this generation is the generation that grew up with the philosophy of "blue ribbons for everyone", "everyone is a winner." This generation hasn't learned the meaning from their parents of the word "no" and have been given everything they ever wanted to them, now! You need to read, or watch, the 60 Minutes piece for more information on it.

The reason I am posting this is because it drives me nuts that there is this "blue ribbons for everyone" attitude out there. I don't understand how this can be healthy. Life is full of losers and winners. If you want to be a winner in real life you need to work hard for that and do what it takes to win. While it may be hard for a 5 year old to lose the game, and then watch the other team jump up for joy and be rewarded with trophies while they walk over to their orange slices and Capri Suns, at least the lesson is learned that not everything is given to them in life and that everything is always going to be good. Life isn't like that, and we shouldn't be doing our kids a disservice by giving them this false sense that life is fair for everyone. When they lose, pick em up, dust em off, and tell them that things will still be okay, winning isn't everything, but if you want to win next time then work harder for what you want!

By the way, lest you think I am going to be that obsessed little league dad on the sidelines who is always screaming at my kid to make them better, you are dead wrong. I am not advocating that winning is everything, in fact I don't really believe that. I am simply stating that it is just as important to learn that there are losers in life, and if you ever fall into that category, you need to learn how to deal with it. This is a very important "lesson" of life.

3 Months Old Already?

Brynlie is already three months old! I can hardly believe it. Time is going by so fast. Brynlie is doing great. She is full of smiles and coo's and loves to blow "raspberries". She's quite good at it too. She is so much fun to have around!

Bathroom Dialog

I was standing outside the bathroom this morning waiting for Cade to finish pooping and I heard the following dialog between him and Brooklyn.

Cade: "My poop is kinda stinky."
Brooklyn: "What?"
Cade: with more empahsis "My poop is kinda stinky!"
Brooklyn: "Yea it is. What does it smell like?"
Cade: "Macaroni and cheese."

I can only imagine what that must have smelled like!

Two Issues

So I just read online that the State Supreme Court of California just made it legal for gay and lesbian couples to marry. Yes this is a political post of sorts, and yes you may choose not to read any further if you wish.
I have two issues with this whole thing, and for the sake of your sanity I'll make my comments brief.

1) I have nothing personally against anyone who is gay or lesbian, they have the right to make that choice (even though I strongly believe it is the wrong choice). However, marriage is, and forever should be, strictly defined as a union between a MAN and a WOMAN. You can't start changing definitions of things just because people begin to live "alternative lifestyles." I could go on, but promised to be brief.

2) It bothers me to no end that the judicial systems in this country think that they can make laws. It is happening way too often that a handful of judges are deciding to take the law into their own hands and, based on their decisions, determine what laws I have to live by. I think America needs to take another look at the Constitution and remember that the laws are not made by the Judicial system.

There, I've said my peace for the time being. Sorry to ruin all the warm and fuzzy feelings you are accustomed to when reading this fascinating blog of ours.

Exercise or Ice Cream?

So I was exercising this morning (something I should do more often-as you will read) and I was on the ground doing some Pilates when Brooklyn walked up to me and said, "Mom, you look like a whale!" I'm sure she meant that with a lot of love. I had to laugh, I mean seriously, how do you take a "compliment" like that. Kids seem to be brutally honest don't they? As for how I was feeling after that comment...I headed straight for the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream. YUM!

Too sweet

Well I was waiting for Chelsea to post this, but I guess I am going to have to! We were in the car the other day going somewhere and Brooklyn started talking about how she was going to start going to school when we get to Arizona. She talks about this a lot and I think she's pretty excited about the whole thing.
Well, shortly thereafter the kids began whispering to each other. All of a sudden Chelsea heard some sniffles and she turned around to ask them what was wrong. Then all of a sudden, with a puckered chin, the corners of his mouth turned down, and his eyes filling with tears, Caden said "Me going to miss Brookie when her goes to school." Talk about heart breaking! Then immediately Brooklyn joined in and began crying saying that she was going to miss Caden too. Chelsea and I had to hold back our own tears!
These two definitely have their moments of contention (more than we care to share), but one thing is for sure....they are best friends. In fact, when they are upset at each other they always say, "I'm not going to be your best friend anymore!" Shortly after this "episode" in the car, Chelsea and I were commenting on how at times it can be difficult to have kids that are under 2 years apart, but at times like that it makes it all worth it. They love each other and I sure hope that they can always stay close and be "best friends."